


Too early to say

by andeemae



Series: Our dreams assured [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Meet the Family, Uncle Fox time, and Fox reunites with the baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:47:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27964022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andeemae/pseuds/andeemae
Summary: Meeting the parents is an important milestone for natborns.Meeting an entire family has to carry even more weight, and Fox is determined to present a flawless first impression.
Relationships: Riyo Chuchi/CC-1010 | Fox
Series: Our dreams assured [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1977586
Comments: 149
Kudos: 165





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Star Wars, I only play with the characters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Planning at least 1 more chapter, maybe 2, but it’ll be a slow go. Such is life y’all.

Fox narrows his eyes, studies the datapad in front of him.

He’s nearly memorized all the second cousins. 

“I’m fairly certain you will not be expected to know every member of the Chuchi family on sight,” Thire tells him, frowning across the desk at him. 

“Save it, Thire,” Thorn warns him, rolling his eyes. “Fox has unrealistic expectations. You will not talk reason into him.”

His expectations are perfectly reasonable, and within reach. Thire just has low ambitions.

Meeting the parents is an important milestone for natborns. Meeting an entire family has to carry even more weight, and he’s determined to present a flawless first impression. Besides, he’s representing not just himself, but the entire army. 

“I want to have an accurate idea of what I am dealing with,” Fox grumbles, eyes dropping back to the pad. 

“It’s a party, not a firefight. You don’t need a battle plan.”

Ignoring him, Fox continues through the holos, connecting parents with children, cousins to cousins, and how each of them is related to Riyo. Familial connections are tricky and he won’t mistakenly insult anyone by calling a cousin an uncle or sisters mother and daughter. No matter how much their appearance may support his assumption. 

“You are making this too hard,” Thorn carries on, either oblivious or uncaring that Fox doesn’t want his advice. “Just put a little more dick in your girlfriend and less in your personality and you’ll be fine.”

Fox glares at him. “You’re crude.”

“Maybe, but that does not make me wrong.” He sits forward in the chair, jabs his hand in Fox’s direction. “When I met Kiki’s parents-”

“You met her parents?” Thire interrupts. 

“Yes, now shut it so I can impart my wisdom,” Thorn huffs before looking back at Fox. “As I was saying, Kiki’s parents absolutely loved me-”

“Wasn’t her last boyfriend arrested for murder?” 

Thorn tilts his head, glares at Thire, silently asking just what his point is.

“Well, it’s just that-I mean, that’s a low bar.” He shrugs. “It wouldn’t take much to be a better choice than that. Don’t be a murderer. Not exactly difficult.”

Fox’s insides roll. What had Riyo’s last boyfriends done? Who were they? They were the standard by which he would be judged and he’s completely ignored them. It’s an unforgivable oversight. 

“You are not helping,” Thorn mutters, turns back to Fox. “Ignore him. Now listen, just channel your inner Thorn, dazzle those parental units with your superior genetics, dig deep, very deep, and find some warmth and charm, and you’ll be fine.”

Huffing, Fox sits back in his seat, rubs his hand over his face. 

“Thank you. I didn’t think it was possible, but the both of you have actually made me even more paranoid about this trip.”

Thorn nods, gives him a solemn look. “Well, we do what we can.”

Thire rolls his eyes. “You will be fine.”

“Because I’m so very personable?” 

“Because you’ll have a lovely blue senator stacking the deck for you.” He smiles. “Riyo is smitten with you, vod. She’ll make them love you.”

Fox eases a little, then tenses again. 

“I’d still rather not make it harder on her than necessary.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be as difficult as you are making it.”

The door to the office swings open and Stone comes in, a white box under one arm and a steaming cup of caf in the opposite hand. 

“This had better be cream filled delights or your tardiness is unforgivable,” Thorn tells Stone as he hands the box off. He opens it and grins. “Excellent, chocolate!”

Popping him on the back of the head, Stone gives him a look. “Share.”

Stuffing one of the pastries in his mouth, Thorn snatches up a second before handing the box off.

Thire inspects the contents closely before selecting one with some red fruit oozing out and putting the box on the desk for Fox. 

“Stone, tell Fox winning over a family does not require recon.”

One eyebrow arching, Stone frowns. “Pardon?”

Thorn licks the chocolate from his pastry off his cuff, waves his other hand at Fox. “He’s studying for his impending escort like it’s his first live fire exercise.”

Pointing at Stone, Thire looks at Fox. “If anyone can give advice, it’s this lunk. He literally wrecked a woman’s livelihood and she still took him to bed. He won over her family too.”

Rolling his eyes, Fox fixes him in a weary look. 

“I do not think winning over younglings is the same as parents.”

Stone rubs at his neck. 

“I agree with Fox. Little ones are a lot less complicated.” He shrugs. “Still, I don’t think you need to worry yourself much. The Senator won’t steer you wrong.”

Grabbing a third pastry, Thorn grins. “See? We all agree Riyo will keep you from making an absolute fool of yourself.”

Picking his datapad up, Fox flips to the next set of holos. 

He’s got higher goals than just not being a fool. 

-

Much as the warmth of the tub’s jets ease Fox’s muscles, Riyo’s body pressed against his back and her fingers combing through his damp hair eases his soul. 

“You really are overthinking this,” she tells him, the fingers on her free hand drumming on his shoulder. “Raicho loved you, and I know she’s told our parents how wonderful you are.”

She shifts, her hair floating around Fox’s shoulders, her lips ghosting his ear, warm breath on his skin.

“Besides, I’m the picky one in my family, and you’ve more than won me over.”

Fox sighs, let’s his head relax back on her shoulder. “I just-I’ve never met parents before. What if they prefer one of your old...companions?”

It’s a thought that’s plagued him since Thorn mentioned meeting the lounge singer’s parents. He won’t be so lucky to have her ex-lovers be jailed for high offenses. 

Riyo laughs. 

“One of my old companions?” She strokes his cheek, smiles softly. “My boyfriend from the academy cheated on me with no less than three other girls from other academies and I didn’t deem any of the boys I saw during my studies worthy of ever taking home. Your competition is dismal.”

Scowl setting in, Fox is too focused on the stupidity of her ex-boyfriend for having cheated on her to fully process what she’s said. 

“I hope you hit him.”

“Oh I did. So did the other girls.”

“Good.”

If she points him out when they get to Pantora Fox will hit him too. Some offences deserve endless punishment.

“So you see? You are by far my best boyfriend.”

Fox cringes. Boyfriend still feels like a juvenile term to his ears. 

“Still…” he shakes his head. “What if they ask a question-about us-and I answer wrong?”

“Like what?” 

He shrugs, tries to focus as her hand trails up and down his chest. 

“Well, like...about our physical relations-”

Riyo startles him into silence, muffles her laughter with his shoulder. 

“You think-you think they might ask about our sex life?”

Fox frowns. “Maybe.”

He imagines they might want to lecture him on safety and practices, quiz him on his history. Considering what some of the GAR get up to, it would be a reasonable thing to expect. He’d offered to interrogate that lump from the five-oh-first that was sniffing after Sabé about those very things, for that very reason, though she’d gently told him it wasn’t necessary.

At the time he’d thought she simply meant she could do her own interrogation, or read the idiot’s body language. Now though, with Riyo’s reaction...

Riyo shakes her head. “They won’t. I promise they won’t.”

“How can you be sure?”

Giving his ear a little tug, she bites her lower lip. “Parents don’t typically ask about their children’s sex lives. It’s...not something they’re keen on acknowledging.”

Frowning, Fox nods. They’re her parents after all. She’d know better than him. 

“I-I just want to make a good impression.” He glares at the bubbles. “I don’t want them to think this is a mistake.”

That this relationship is beneath their daughter. Even though Fox knows it is. He’s determined to make up for all his shortcomings with undiluted grit. 

Pressing her lips to his cheek, Riyo sighs. 

“You can’t help but make a good impression.”

When Fox makes a derisive noise, she takes his chin, makes him look at her. 

“You are kind and polite. Even when you’ve had your nose busted by a silly senator, you don’t lose your temper. A baby uses you as a chew toy and you take the time to understand teething.” She leans in, her nose brushing his. “You’re extraordinary, my love.”

Fox feels heat creeping up his neck. 

“Maybe you could not mention my nose?” He absently touches it, still certain it's a bit crooked from that first encounter. 

She bites her lip. “Too late.”

Great. He definitely needs to make a good impression now. They probably think he’s some kind of defective, too dim to put his bucket on straight. 

Before he can voice his next worry, already forming in his mind, Riyo begins pressing long, lazy kisses to his temple, down his cheek to his jaw, then neck, shoulder…

Her warm breath and soft lips fog his mind, leading his thoughts astray. 

“You are trying to distract me,” he mumbles, melting into her.

She pauses, nose pressed to his hair. “Is it working?”

Fox waits a breath. 

“...yes.”

She squeals when he flips over, pins her firmly between him and the side of the tub.

Kissing her, and trying desperately not to slip in the sudsy water, Fox lets his worries settle at the back of his mind. They’ll still be there tomorrow, and he’s got more pressing issues for the time being. 

-

When Pantora appears in the viewport, rust colored and swirled with gray white clouds, Fox grips his bucket more tightly under his arm. 

His insides roll when the ship begins its descent, though that may partly be the turbulence they hit which nearly knocks Riyo off her feet. 

“We should sit,” he tells her as the ship shudders, holding tight to her as he guides her to a seat.

When they finally touch down, Fox quickly shoves his bucket on, stands and waits as she rearranges her shawls and skirts. 

“Fox?” 

Looking down, he finds Riyo, watching him closely. 

Reaching out, she takes his hand and presses it between her palms, puts his fingertips to her lips and softly kisses them. 

“Let’s go.”

They wait at the top of the ramp, Riyo shifting on her feet as it slowly lowers, shooting him a brilliant smile when it finally stops. 

They’re barely halfway down the ramp when Raicho comes running up, Mako in her arms.

“Riyo!” She flings her arms around Riyo’s neck, kisses her cheek. “Oh I’ve missed you!”

Hugging her back, Riyo kisses her cheek before pulling back, smiling as she takes Mako and squeezes him tightly. 

“Look how big you are!”

Fox frowns, tilts his head and studies the wriggling infant in her arms. He’s definitely bigger. 

He’s doubled in size, actually. His purple hair, which had been downy and sparse before has filled in, and several of his teeth have finally come in.

When he spots Fox, he makes an ear piercing noise, begins grabbing for him.

“I'm so glad you could come,” Raicho tells him, pulling him into a hug. Fox stiffens at first, then relaxes in, pats her on the back awkwardly.

“Glad to be here, ma’am.”

She pulls back, gives him a glare. “Ma’am?” Her nose wrinkles and she taps the side of his head. “It’s Raicho, remember? And you’re on Pantora. You don’t need the helmet.”

“It’s regulation, Rai,” Riyo tells her before Fox can answer, still fighting to keep hold of Mako.

Raicho makes a face, then seemingly brushes the annoyance away. She smiles at Mako, struggling against Riyo’s arms. 

“Riyo, let him have Uncle Fox or you’ll drop him,” she warns her as Mako makes another bid for freedom. 

Grinning under his bucket, he’d been certain the little biter would’ve forgotten him by now, Fox holds his hands out.

“Come here, kid.”

Catching him under the arms, Fox hoists him up over head, gives him a shake, much to Mako’s delight. He squeals and kicks, reaches for Fox’s helmet as he gurgles happily. 

“Gotten heavy, haven’t you?” Fox grunts as he settles him on his hip, pokes him in the belly.

Babbling, Mako answers, smacking at Fox’s pauldron, then his visor.

“Well, he’s on baby foods now, packs it on a bit,” Raicho explains as they start to walk. She winces. “He’s got too many teeth for me to keep feeding him. Thought he was going to gnaw my nipples off.”

Fox feels his face flood with heat and silently thanks the regs for their existence and keeping him sealed tight in his helmet. 

She gives him a nudge. “Maybe you can give him some advice on not biting a lady’s tits.”

“Raicho!” Riyo hisses, her face going a deep indigo. 

“What?” Raicho puts her hand to her chest. “The poor man deserves a suckle, and he’s too sweet to try to chew them off. Unlike this little womprat.”

She pokes Mako in the side. Fox sighs, wishing the conversation would steer anywhere but his sexual proclivities. Parents may not ask questions about their physical relations, but sisters evidently will. 

Pressing her fingers to her temples, Riyo mutters to herself before setting Raicho in a look. 

“May we please go, before I think better of this visit and drag poor Fox back to Coruscant.”

Chuckling, Raicho leads them to the spiral tower the landing pad is attached to, past guards and down the turbo. 

“Mum and dad were beside themselves they weren’t cleared to come to the spaceport,” she tells them. “They’re back at the apartment cooking enough food to feed the entire army.”

Apparently security had been increased at all ports since the beginning of the war, when threats had been made against the Assembly and several companies with ties to the war effort. Getting clearance to enter government facilities and ports is, according to Raicho, near impossible.

“They even told me I couldn’t bring Mako up,” she adds. “I told those idiots at security they either let me bring him up or I was leaving him with them.”

“And they didn’t call your bluff?” 

Raicho grins. “Who says I was bluffing?”

Fox tightens his arm around Mako, horrified Raicho would make such a gamble with him.

“Don’t fret. They’d have come running to give him back,” she assures him.

Riyo must sense Fox’s mute horror, because she gives his arm a gentle squeeze before the doors slide open on the ground floor.

Droids have already offloaded Riyo’s luggage, along with Fox’s single duffle, and are packing them in the back of the speeder when the group reaches them. Fox gives them a scan, then a quick once over of the speeder, assuring himself all is safe before ducking in.

Settling Mako on his lap, Fox reaches up and pops the seals on his bucket as Riyo scoots in beside him.

The sisters chatter, switching to Pantoran before they’ve even entered the speedway, so Fox busies himself with Mako.

He’s still small, despite having doubled in size. There’s less drool, though he still seems to enjoy chewing on Fox’s armor. His babbling is less random, Fox thinks he hears fragments of actual words interspersed in.

“That’s the Guard emblem,” Fox tells him, as Mako jabs the marking. “You like it?”

Patting it with his sweaty little palm approvingly, Mako says something incomprehensible before struggling to stand on Fox’s legs. He squishes Fox’s face between his hands, tells him something with utmost seriousness.

“Huh?” Is all Fox manages to grunt out. 

“On your bottom, Mako,” Raicho tells him. 

Rather than listen, Mako shoots her a sulky look over his shoulder before looking back at Fox, lower lip jutted out. With a huff, he then collapses against Fox’s chest, little arms around his neck and his head on his shoulder. 

“Oh you sly little snot,” Raicho grumbles, crossing her arms and giving Mako a look of equal parts annoyance and awe. “Using a human shield. Devious.”

Riyo snorts. “Can’t imagine who he gets that from.”

Raicho sighs. “Much as I’d love to claim all my child’s brilliance as my own, such an underhanded tactic is very clearly from Era’s genes.”

Though not from his influence. According to Riyo, her sister is in the midst of dissolving her marriage. Her husband hadn’t even seen her or their son since she’d returned from her visit to Coruscant months ago.

“How could he not want to even see the baby?”

It made no sense to Fox. Whatever his feelings for Raicho, Mako was his son. Surely he had some lingering affection for his own child.

“I told you,” Riyo sighed. “Era doesn’t like younglings. He’s not even asking for visitations.”

It was a disgusting thought to Fox, that a man could abandon his responsibility to someone so small and helpless, but the more he saw of the universe, the less it shocked him. Some natborns simply lacked decency.

Raicho rubs her temple, smiles wanly. 

“When we met for the talks at the Temple for the dissolution he balked. Apparently he’s decided he wants to be a husband and father.” She rolls her eyes. “Really, he just doesn’t want to be seen as having been booted from our family.”

When Fox frowns, quirks an eyebrow, Riyo smiles. 

“Because of our mother’s family,” she explains. “Era is seen to have married up with Raicho. If the union dissolves, he’ll be seen as a bit of a failure.”

As he deserves, Fox thinks glumly. Any man that refuses to be even the most subpar of parents should be seen as a failure. 

Riyo looks back at Raicho. “What did you tell him?” 

“To go to whichever hell will have him.”

Fox hides his grin of approval in Mako’s hair.

“Unfortunately, I still give a damn,” Raicho admits, leaning back and huffing. “I’d quite like to be done with him though.”

She doesn’t add more, just begins pointing out interesting sights, historical buildings, museums, gardens, and the Assembly, before they arrive at their parents’ building. 

It’s not quite as tall as the skyscrapers on Coruscant, but it’s definitely more pleasant to look at. Colorful murals adorn the walls and gardens spill over balconies, clear columns run up the sides, catching the sun for the solar light systems, and an artificial waterfall churns a river that runs under the entry.

Quickly putting his bucket back on, Fox stays close to Riyo and follows her out, under the canopy over the drive, still holding Mako.

“I can take him,” Raicho offers. “He gets heavy.”

Fox shakes his head.

“No its-he’s fine.” He gives his back a pat. “He’s asleep.”

He’d dozed off during the ride, and Fox isn’t certain, but he thinks it may be poor planning to wake a sleeping youngling. Beside that, with the baby in arms, clumsily occupied, he can keep his bucket on longer. He needs every extra moment he can manage to prepare himself for this introduction.

They ride the turbo up, the city speeding pat them vertically, before slowing to a stop.

Raicho taps in a code and the doors slide open to the apartment.

It’s bright with the yellows and pinks of the evening sun, spilling in through the surrounding windows. The inside wall is filled with books. Not holobooks, but flimsy and binding, colored spines all pointed out with names in various languages along them. 

It’s also warm, a sharp contrast to the chilly air outside, and smells like frying foods.

“Riyo!” 

A woman, instantly recognizable as Riyo’s mother, comes rushing in, turning back to shout at someone through the archway she’d emerged from. “Kai! The girls are here!”

She flings her arms around Riyo, squeezes her tightly before pulling back, smiling and cupping her face, speaking rapid fire Pantoran. 

Fox hasn’t even had a chance to toggle on his translator before her attention shifts to him.

“You must be Riyo’s Commander beau,” she says, then arches an eyebrow. “Either that or Raicho has suddenly decided to employ a rather interesting type of nanny.”

Riyo snorts, gently places a hand on his arm. 

“This is Commander Fox, mum.” 

Her mother arches an eyebrow, surveys the armor. 

“I know men are often afraid of their girlfriend’s parents, but this seems a tad extreme.” She bites back a grin, knocks on the plastoid placard on his chest. “Are you determined to be as intimidating as possible to ward off any attempts at mothering?”

Fox frowns, starts to tell her his wardrobe is limited, and besides that, he is technically on duty, but doesn’t get the chance.

“He’s much more cuddly without the armor,” Raicho tells her. 

Rolling her eyes, Riyo gestures to her mother. “And this is my mum, Miki.”

Fox nods. “Pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”

She smiles. “Rai said you were adorably polite. She certainly wasn’t wrong.”

Reaching out, Raicho carefully takes Mako from Fox, whispers she’s going to put him in his crib, leaving Fox with no excuse to keep the bucket on. Damn.

Hoping his hair isn’t matted down, his nerves have him sweating like a Hutt on Mustafar, Fox pops the seals and pulls the helmet off, quickly clipping it to his belt.

Miki smiles softly. 

“You are a handsome boy under there, aren’t you?” she says, eye squinting up at him as she beams. 

Fox feels his face warm under the scrutiny and compliment. He’s on the verge of correcting her, he’s hardly a boy, despite his technical age, when his thoughts are interrupted.

“Is that my Riyo?” 

Looking past Miki, Fox spots an older male.

“Dad,” Riyo sighs, runs and meets him halfway, flinging her arms around his middle.

He’s tall, thin and narrow faced, head of white hair and a scraggly beard, and Fox can see Raicho favors him as much as Riyo does their mother.

Riyo lets him go, then takes his hand and tugs him toward Fox and her mother.

“Dad, this is Commander Fox.”

For a moment Fox waits, feeling strangely like he’s a cadet again, getting an equipment and uniform check. Sweat trickles down the back of his neck. Then Riyo’s dad smiles, holds out his hand.

“Kai, if you don’t mind, Commander.”

Fox stares at the offered hand.

He’s never had anyone want to shake his hand. It’s a gesture reserved for equals, not mass produced men. Not clones. Not even Marshal Commanders.

Uncertainly, Fox reaches out, takes Kai’s hand.

“Just Fox is fine, sir.”

Kai chuckles, claps him on the shoulder.

“Well, Fox, I hope you brought an appetite with you. Miki made enough stew for the entire sector.”

-

Raicho and Kai’s warnings about the amount of food is only slightly exaggerated.

The bowl of stew, a spicy blend with hot noodles and some small, strange crustacean meat mixed in, fills the entire center of the table. There are piles of fried breads, some stuffed with creamy fillings and others with meat and vegetables, from end to end, and the droid never lets Fox’s goblet get any more than half way to empty.

“Have some more sausage,” Miki tells him, tipping three more chunky, meaty finger-like things on his plate. 

“You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want,” Riyo whispers to him. “She’s convinced we all starve when we leave the house.”

“Of course he wants it,” Miki tells Riyo, somehow having heard her low tone. “The boy is a rail. It’s appalling. Whatever they’re feeding you, it’s clearly not particularly nutritious. He needs a bit of mothering to fluff him up.”

Mothering, evidently, translates to stuffing him so full he can’t move.

He’s grateful to have removed his hard shell before dinner. His accelerated metabolism will handle all the extra intake, but he’d definitely have been uncomfortable in the rigid upper body armor for a few hours. 

Fox simply chuckles as Riyo shoots him an apologetic look, cuts into the first sausage and carefully maneuvers it to his mouth to avoid fat dripping onto his chin. 

Mako begins fussing beside him, from his perch on Kai’s lap, grabbing at the sleeve of Fox’s blacks.

Picking up one of the smaller pieces of meat, Fox hands it to him.

“Goddess,” Raicho groans, “now there’s two of you sneaking him food. You’re going to upset his stomach. He’s got his own food.”

Kai makes a disgusted noise. “The purée? That’s cruel.” He gives Mako a squeeze. “The lad likes the table food.”

Fox avoids her annoyed glare. He’s inclined to agree with Kai. The mushy, bland smelling ‘food’ she’d been attempting to feed Mako seemed the equivalent to rations for an infant. It’s no great shock the kid wants the delicious smelling food set out in front of him. 

It’s apparently a frequent point of contention between father and daughter.

Raicho shakes her head. “Well, if he wakes with a bellyache you’ll be the one up with him.”

Unbothered by the threat, Kai pulls apart one of the stuffed breads, feeds it to Mako.

It hardly looks like they’ve made a dent in the meal when the droids start clearing the table, replacing the savory with sweet. 

“Now, are you a jelly or a divinity fellow?” Kai asks, passing Mako to Fox. 

Fox frowns, settles Mako on his lap, then looks at Riyo. “Do I like jelly?”

Biting her lip, Riyo fights off a laugh.

“Give him a bit of each.”

Ultimately, Fox lets Mako have the jelly dessert. Less to eat and more to make a mess with. It’s unappetizing, has a strange texture that mixes poorly with the chunks of fruit suspended in it, so he doesn’t blame the tyke for simply squishing it.

The airy candy, though, he takes several helpings of. 

They sit around the table, as the droids begin removing the empty dishes, discussing the next day’s trip to the country for the party and grumbling about family members they’ll have to interact with.

Fox takes mental note of names and connections as if making a strategic map of interactions. 

“You’ll be grateful for that armor with Kai’s Great Aunt Ettsa,” Miki tells Fox. “Handsy old tart.”

Insides rolling, Fox’s only comfort to that warning is Riyo’s hand on his knee, giving him a reassuring squeeze. With her at hand, he’ll have a measure of protection from females who lack self control. 

“You much of a dancer?” Kai asks. 

Fox nods, a bit hesitantly. “I can dance, sir. They had the Guard take lessons when we arrived on Coruscant.”

He’d even studied Pantoran specific dances the past month in the hopes of not looking the fool. Riyo doesn’t care much for dancing though, thankfully, so he’s hopeful he won’t need to employ his spotty knowledge. 

“When did you arrive?” Kai prods, adding, “On Coruscant, I mean.”

“Just after Geonosis.”

He then politely asks about Fox’s training, skirting dangerously close to the subject of accelerated aging. It’s not something he’s keen on discussing, not on his first meeting with them anyways. The matter had been hard enough with Riyo. 

She’d been beside herself when Saché had made a joke about corrupting minors, having been blissfully oblivious to the reality of clone production and aging until then. 

It had been a long, difficult conversation, and not one Fox is eager to repeat anytime soon.

Riyo manages, with political smoothness, to redirect their interest to Fox’s so-called feats of daring. 

“He managed to evacuate the entire Senate during that beast’s rampage.”

“No small task,” Kai chuckles. “I’d think directing Senators is like herding tumble bunnies, isn’t it?”

Fox only nods in agreement. He’d take tumble bunnies, whatever the hell they are, over some Senators, truthfully. 

They mercifully move on to Raicho’s troubles after that, and Fox happily eats his candies as she scowls and huffs with every question lobbed her way. 

When Miki yawns, notices the lateness of the hour, she begins fussing around, ushering them to bed. 

“We’ve got an early morning and many connections on the rails,” she warns them. “Best get plenty of rest.”

Riyo leads Fox out, to the back of the penthouse and a dimly lit hall, the last door at the end. 

“Please don’t judge me too harshly on the decor,” she pleads. “I never really updated it after my Academy days, so it’s a bit...youthful.”

When she opens the door, Fox winces and stays planted in the entry. Youthful is a bit of an understatement. 

The bed has a sparkling canopy, pale ribbons twisted in gossamer material, spiraling down the posts. Her bedspread is silken, a rich purple color, and there are at least a dozen fluffy pillows, some simple and some shaped like animals, piled at the head. 

On the walls are crystal blue skies with wispy clouds on one wall and diamond stars on the other. A blue and purple banner with golden trim is draped over the top of the window, the words obscured by the shadow and the droop of the material. One wall is packed with childish objects, dolls with blue faces and frazzled purple hair, small fuzzy animals, old datapads, a dozen toy droids in varying states of destruction. 

It’s certainly a far cry from her room back on Coruscant. 

Her luggage is already stacked by the fresher door, and she quickly goes to it, opens the top one and begins searching for her night things. 

“Afraid to go in?” Raicho asks, standing just inside the next door over, her old room. “Just be glad she’s taken down the posters from her ‘Corellian General’ days. Luke Absa would be leering across the room at you otherwise.”

Fox frowns, glances from her back to Riyo digging in the largest of her luggage. 

Miki comes around the corner, a cloth bag in hand, stops and smiles. 

“Are you planning on sleeping in the doorway?” 

She walks over, hands him the bag. 

His upper armor is neatly stacked inside. She must’ve picked it up for him from where he’d shed it in the entry. Matching pieces are nested together and padded with what look to be thickly knitted squares. 

“I put some trivets between them so they don’t get banged up.”

Raicho snorts. “Mum, it’s armor. It’s meant to get banged up.”

Miki makes a face, then sighs. “Oh. Yes I suppose so.”

Fox smiles. “Thanks all the same, ma’am.”

Brushing a strand of silver white hair from her face, she smiles. 

“Oh, and I put a few extra blankets in the room. Humans tend to get rather cold on Pantora at night.” She pats his arm, then glances at his lower half, still in armor. “I do hope you brought something a little more comfortable to sleep in.”

Fox’s face warms at the realization. Extra blankets in the room. He’s being given permission to sleep in Riyo’s room. 

Of course, he scolds himself. He’s her guard, it only makes sense. 

She leans around the doorway, shouts to Riyo to sleep well, then gives Fox another pat on the shoulder. 

“Sleep well.”

Kissing a snoozing Mako, Miki shoots Raicho a look when she mutters something to her in Pantoran. 

“Why are you the way you are, Rai?” Miki grumbles as she walks off, shaking her head. 

Fox ignores his better judgement. “What did you say?” 

Raicho’s lips twitch. 

“Just that I imagine Riyo will keep you plenty warm and comfy overnight.”

Flushing, Fox looks away as she begins laughing, ducks in her room and closes the door.

Riyo comes to the door and peaks out, nose wrinkled as she looks back at Fox.

Her expression softens as she takes him by the wrist, gives him a tug. “Come get ready for bed.”

Bag gripped in his hand, Fox crosses the threshold and looks around. His duffle is on the bench, nearly hidden behind one of Riyo’s suitcases, beside a stack of heavy blankets.

Watching her for a moment, Fox smiles as she combs the braid from her hair, fusses with a knot at the end. 

Setting his bag down, Fox picks up the blankets and crouches, begins spreading them on the ground. 

“Fox?”

He freezes, turns and looks up, finds her frowning down at him. 

“What’re you doing?”

Fox looks back at his pallet. “Setting up for the night.”

Riyo bites her lower lip, very clearly trying not to laugh. 

“You can’t possibly want to sleep on the floor.”

He shrugs, smoothes out the topmost blanket. 

Dropping down beside him, she takes his hand, smiles at him. 

“Am I so awful a bedmate you’d rather freeze than share a smaller bed with me?”

Fox runs his thumb over her knuckles. 

“It-well it seemed prudent.”

“We’ll just be sleeping,” she points out. Her lips quirk up. “Though it may be wise to wear pants. Raicho does like to turn up in the mornings looking for spare socks and hairpins. She never remembers her own.”

Fox snorts.

Pressing a quick kiss to his lips, she stands and tugs him up, drags him to her open suitcase and pulls out a bundle. 

“I bought this for you. It’ll keep you warmer than your fatigues.” Her cheeks tinge indigo. “And leave a bit more to the imagination when my sister inevitably bursts in.”

Unfolding it, Fox finds a pair of dark pants, made of heavy material, and a dark shirt. Definitely less scandalous than his threadbare fatigues. 

“They should fit. Sabé took her trooper friend with her to buy them for me.” When Fox makes a face, she laughs. “He seems all right.”

All right isn’t good enough. Sabé and her sister may irritate him, but he’d rather not see them cavorting with the end result of thinly stretched dna. 

“Hm,” is all he can find it in himself to respond with. 

Stripping off his armor, then blacks, he pulls on his new nightwear before picking up the blankets and tossing them on the bed, shivering as he settles under the mountain he’s created. 

Riyo crawls in after him, tapping something on the nightstand, turning on the flames to the fireplace. 

Curling in around her, leaching off her warmth, Fox closes his eyes. Her warm fingers comb through his hair as she holds him, lets him nuzzle in impossibly close.

He drifts off with her heartbeat in his ear and her lips against his temple. 

“Sweet dreams.”

-

Fox wakes to the soft sound of crying through the wall. His pulse speeds up. Mako.

Remembering Raicho’s warnings about bellyaches from greasy food, he disentangles himself from Riyo’s limbs, kisses her cheek, then crawls out of the bed. 

The room is warm from the fire, still cheerfully crackling and lighting his way.

Quietly, he opens the door, creeps down to the next door and cracks it open.

Raicho’s bed is empty, turned down and the blankets scattered, but she’s absent. Her fresher door is open, but when Fox peeks in as he passes, the lights are off and it’s as empty as her bed. 

Mako is standing in the crib, gripping the rail, lower lip jutted out and wide eyes in Fox.

“Where’s your mum?” Fox asks, picking him up and settling him on his hip.

Curling into Fox’s chest, Mako sniffles and rests his cheek on his shoulder.

“Don’t know?” He pats Mako on his padded bottom. “Let’s go look then.”

Snatching up a blanket, Fox tosses it around Mako’s shoulder and heads out the door. 

They cut through the dark kitchen, still full of the scents of dinner, then the dining room, now tidied up, stopping when he sees the living area light on.

Feet barely making a noise, he crosses the gap, peaks around the corner.

Sitting in one of the squishy chairs, in a pool of yellow light from a bent reading lamp and a book open in his lap, is Kai. He sips something from a mug, then looks up, smiles. 

“Couldn’t sleep?”

Stepping around the corner, Fox shakes his head, pats Mako’s back.

“He was crying, so I-well, I couldn’t let him cry.”

He crosses the room and drops into the seat across from Kai, settles Mako on his lap.

“Do you know where Raicho is?” Fox asks. “She’s not in her room. I think that’s what upset him.”

Kai nods.

“Not far. I heard her sneak out about an hour ago.” He rubs his eyes. “Had on her house slippers. She wasn’t leaving the building in those.”

Nodding, Fox smoothes Mako’s hair, gives him a small smile when he grabs his hand. 

“He’s quite fond of you.” Kai smiles. “Rai mentioned you had a way with younglings.”

Fox snorts. 

“Not sure about that.” He pats Mako’s back. “Just this one.”

Kai sets his mugs down, moves the book from his lap and gestures between Fox and Mako.

“You're sure you weren’t in charge of the crèche on Kamino?”

Fox’s stomach rolls. 

“Don’t have those on Kamino, sir.” He sucks in a breath. “Decant us then start training. No time for coddling.”

When they woke alone and afraid, whimpering for some shred of comfort from a nightmare, the only people rushing to their sides were their batchmates. Not even that was a sure thing, not if the Kaminoans had locked their pods for the night. 

“Locked in pods?” Kai sighs, closes his eyes. “This Republic really has forsaken its soul for a finger hold of stability.”

Fox shrugs. 

“It’s not as bad as it sounds.” It’s worse. “You get acclimated to it.”

“No one should have to get acclimated to that.”

He’ll get no argument from Fox. If he could spare any of his brothers the loneliness and fear of being trapped in the tiny sleep pods, he would. His opinion, though, only has as much weight as his life has value. None.

Kai sits forward, sets his feet on the ground, rests his elbows on his knees and peers over the tops of his reading glasses at Fox. His eyes are too much like Riyo’s, golden and warm, uncommonly kind, and Fox lets his own eyes drop to his lap 

“You’re a surprisingly gentle soul for someone raised so coldly.”

Fox focuses his attention on Mako, now playing with the zipper on his little onsie pajamas.

“Probably engineered in,” Fox mumbles. 

If he were a gambling man, he’d say whatever gentility Kai sees goes hand in hand with the docility the Kaminoans claimed to have bred into them. Fox was otherwise bred for killing and fighting, guts and glory. Weaponry and tibanna had been his childhood, grim reality, brutal tactics, and the threat of decommissioning are his adolescence. 

“Nature or nurture, you’re a very good man.” He sighs, takes off his glasses and cleans them with the edge of his shirt. “I only wish both my offspring had such discerning taste in partners.”

He sits back in the chair, takes up his mug again. 

“But we don’t choose who we love, now do we?”

Fox frowns. “I...guess not.”

Kai chuckles. 

“No. That would make it much too practical. Too simple.” He shakes his head. “I suppose I should be grateful. If rationality and logic had a place in affairs of the heart Miki would’ve dropped me when her family cut her off.”

Fox nods. “I would definitely be on the losing end in that case.”

“You have a sweet disposition and are good with younglings,” Kai tells him, mouth quirking up. “Raicho can attest, those aren’t as common gifts as we’d like.”

Face warming, more at being told he has a ‘sweet disposition’, a misjudgment if there ever was, Fox rubs at a knot of anxiety growing in his neck. He’s confounded an old man into thinking he’s far better than he is, and the misrepresentation, even if unintentional, sits badly on him. 

“Riyo is uncommonly lucky to have found you.”

“I’m the lucky one,” he counters. 

Kai’s smile widens. “Very wise answer.”

Shifting Mako, he’s fallen back asleep, Fox smiles, cradles him against his chest. 

“You should take him back to bed. Raicho will complain he’s being spoiled if she comes up and finds you rocking him.” Kai sighs. “I’ll wait up for Rai. She can’t yell at the fool forever.”

Confusion must register on Fox’s face, because Kai chuckles. 

“That idiot she married.” He makes a face. “Goddess, that’s probably how my wife’s father described me.”

He sips whatever is in his mug again, then takes a breath. 

“I shouldn’t be so harsh, I suppose. Raicho is hardly blameless, but,” he shrugs, “fathers are fools for their children. You’ll see, someday.”

Fox focuses on Mako, straightening his outfit, wiping drool from the corner of his mouth, doesn’t look up. 

Bitterness doesn’t settle in his chest, not like months before, just a tender kind of sadness. He’s made his peace with the unfairness of his lot in life, but the bruise of it lingers. 

“You don’t think you will, but you will,” Kai adds. “Life finds a way to flourish, even in the darkness. You and your fellow clones-your brothers, as Riyo calls them-you’re meant to be identical, and on flimsi, you very well should be.”

They’ve got the same genes, the same training, identical down to the whiskers on their faces. 

And yet...

Each brother has carved out his own identity. From paint on their armor and haircuts to their sexual proclivities, they’re all different. Despite all the Kaminoans' efforts, they’ve not stayed identical. Not at all. 

It’s a flicker of hope, a dangerous thing to have burning in him, but Fox will happily fan the flame. Hope is as human an inclination as any, and despite what some say, what some believe, he and his brothers are human. 

“And if life needs a little shove, well, Riyo has plenty of her mother’s stubbornness to help it along.”

Fox snorts. 

“That she does.”

Getting up, Fox cradles Mako more securely, pops his neck. 

“See you in the morning.”

Through the cooling kitchen and down the hall, Fox stops outside Raicho’s open door, looks down and Mako.

If he puts him back in the crib he might wake again, alone and in the dark. It’s unacceptable.

As if summoned by his dilemma, Riyo’s door cracks open and her worried eyes peek out. 

“Fox?” She presses a hand to her chest, opens the door and steps out, frowns when she sees the baby in his arms. “I worried when I woke and you were gone. Why do you have Mako?”

He sucks in a breath as Mako squirms a bit before settling, burrowing closer to Fox’s chest. 

“I heard him-he was fussing,” Fox explains, stepping closer, voice a low rumble. “Your sister went for a walk, I think.”

Riyo frowns, nose wrinkling at the news, then rubs her eyes. 

“She mentioned Era had been comming her, wanted to meet. She’s probably shouting at him in the entrance.”

Fox simply nods his agreement. Looks down at Mako. 

“He’s asleep now, but I…” he holds his breath, lets it out slowly. “I didn’t want to put him down and him wake afraid.”

Small and alone, confined and cut off from comfort. 

Riyo steps closer, reaches out and tucks the blanket more snug before smiling up. 

“You know, I think you may be more handsome holding a baby than a blaster.”

Fox rolls his eyes. 

Pressing up on her toes, she kisses his jaw. 

“Bring him in the room. He can sleep between us.” She gives him a nudge. “Raicho should be more mindful her child. He already prefers you.”

She crawls up in the bed and Fox gingerly places Mako in the still warm hollow of the mattress before scooting in beside him. 

“Goddess, you’re freezing!” Riyo hisses as he’s settling in, curls in around him, shifting Mako so that he’s on Fox’s chest. Her warm breath ghosts his skin as she pulls the blankets up, tucks it tightly around him, presses a kiss to his jaw. “You’ll catch pneumonia.”

He won’t. He's been inoculated against every illness possible, and has a divot in his arm to prove it. 

“Didn’t much notice it,” he admits. 

It wasn’t nearly as cold as when the command class was tossed in the sea outside Tipoca City, a final test of their swimming abilities. At least in her parents’ apartment he’s dry. 

Riyo props herself on her elbow when he tells her as much, lip puckered. 

She reaches out, strokes his cheek. 

“Every now and again I think you’ve told me the worse of that forsaken place, then you tell me something even more awful.”

“No one ever died.” That he’s aware of anyways. 

She shakes her head. “That’s hardly the point.”

Fox shrugs, traces a finger over the marking on her cheek, tries to forget the icy waters, darkness, and the fear. He’s warm and safe for the moment, and he’d rather focus on that.

He’d rather go to sleep and pretend this is his life, nestled and loved and his own person. 

Sighing, Riyo gives up the argument, relaxes against him, smiles as Mako squirms between them. 

“Well, you definitely don’t have to worry about anyone catching us being inappropriate with this little worm sharing the bed.”

Kissing her forehead, Fox smiles, eases back in the bed. 

“That’s alright.” He waits a moment, combs his finger through her hair. “Riyo?”

She peers up at him through her lashes. “Hmm?”

“I think your parents like me.”

Her lips turn up in a small smile. 

“There was never a chance they wouldn’t.”

Fox chuckles. He’s glad one of them was confident in that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Star Wars, I only play with the characters.
> 
> AN: I really, really tried to make this a two-shot, it just wasn’t happening. Here’s to a three shot? Maybe?

Riyo wakes to the low rumble of Fox’s voice.

“...and see there? She’s washed away the scars.” He pauses, sighs. “That’s ridiculous.”

Cracking open an eye, just a fraction, Riyo sees he’s sitting up in the bed, propped up on several fluffy pillows with Mako on his lap. His datapad is in his hand, colorful illustration on the screen.

He rolls his eyes. 

“If that existed I know several brothers that would have got their hands on it already,” he mutters to himself before tapping the screen, going to the next scene. “Alright, ready for the ending?”

Mako tilts his head and looks up at him, makes a soft noise and smiles. 

Chuckling, Fox pats Mako’s rounded little belly, reads the last of the story before slouching back.

Riyo’s chest aches. 

He really would be an extraordinary father. There's no one she can think of more deserving to have a child of their own. 

Despite Stone having told him that the Kaminoans have left the abandoned, or more likely unknown, offspring of other clones to their fates, he’s still reluctant to even entertain the thought of a future, a family. She doesn’t blame him for his hesitation. His life has been anything but kind, and his status as a clone trooper without choices, paired with his accelerated aging and the shadowed nature of the Kaminoans and the Republic itself, give his concerns painful weight.

Still, Riyo holds to the hope that she and other Senators will eventually be able to put an end to the use of the clones and grant them the freedom they so dearly deserve. 

Mako stands, gripping Fox’s hands as he balances on wobbly legs, bounces a few times before collapsing on his bottom and giggling.

“Like the story?” 

For a moment Riyo thinks he’s asking Mako, not expecting an answer. Then he reaches over, gently brushes the hair from her face. 

“I know you are awake, Riyo.”

Riyo opens her eyes, a small smile creeping onto her face.

“What gave me up?”

“Your breathing,” he tells her, tracing a finger over the tattoo on her cheek. “I heard when it changed.”

Pushing herself up, she scoots closer to him and pulls the comforter up to hold off the chill.

Resting her head on his shoulder, she smiles as Mako begins playing with the zipper on his pajamas. 

“I take it you didn’t enjoy the tale,” she says, taking the datapad from his hand, closing out the book.

He shrugs. “I’m no youngling.”

And truth be told, he’d never really been allowed to be one. It’s another tragedy in the narrative of his, and his brothers, lives. 

“It’s a little...fanciful, for me,” he finally adds. 

“It’s meant to be,” she tells him, hugging his arm. “Younglings like fantasy and whimsy. It’s good for their creativity.”

Daring knights and roguish pirates, royalty, happily ever afters. It’s the stuff of an active imagination. 

“We were given manuals,” he says. “Star maps and strategy algorithms. Not much fantasy there.”

Looking up, through her lashes, Riyo grins. “And yet, you and your brothers found plenty to fantasize about.”

His cheeks tinge a deep pink as he mumbles, “Not because of youngling tales.”

Taking his hand, Riyo laces their fingers together, bites back a laugh. 

Despite all Kaminoan efforts to stomp out their humanity, replace it with strict protocols and cool efficiency, it had cracked through. Fox has told her plenty of stories about him and his batchmates sneaking between rooms, smuggling contraband treats stolen from trainers, and late night holomovies in storage rooms. 

He wouldn’t admit to the content of those holos, but by way of Saché, Riyo had learned just what kinds of entertainment genetically modified and rapidly aging boys wheedled from sympathetic trainers. 

It’s no wonder he keeps the stories to himself. Fox is much too composed to admit he’s got the same urges as any other man, coupled with the same awkward means to occupy them, especially to her. 

“No, but they were undoubtedly as outlandish as some.”

Fox snorts. “That is one way of putting it.”

Before Riyo can needle him a bit more, his blush is easily her favorite shade of pink, her favorite color beside the warm brown of his eyes, the bedroom door opens and Raicho peeks in.

“Figured he was up,” she says, stepping in. “Wakes me at this time every morning.”

She crosses the room and holds out her arms, claps her hands. 

“Come along, my little snot, let Auntie and Uncle get decent.” She shoots Riyo a look. “I hope you’ve controlled your baser urges with my child present.”

Riyo snorts. “Do we look indecent?”

Raicho shrugs, reaches for Mako. “I can’t see under your blankets.”

Fox’s color deepens at that. 

Mako ignores her efforts, crawls up, squeezes into the minute space between Fox and Riyo, then begins tugging on the loose strands of Riyo’s hair.

“No, no,” Fox warns him, taking his hand and unwinding it from Riyo’s hair. “We don’t pull hair.”

“Hopefully you pull it a little,” Raicho tells him, grabbing Mako by the leg and tugging him away. 

Fox’s face goes as crimson as his guard armor. If he were in it Riyo imagines she wouldn’t be able to tell where he started and the plastoid stopped. 

“You’ll have to wait for more spoiling,” she warns Mako, scooping him up and cradling him in her arms as he tries to crawl back to Fox. “You need a change and your fancy pants on.”

Accepting his fate, Mako stops squirming, begins playing with his zipper again as Raicho carries him out, kicking the door shut as she exits.

Brushing her hair over her shoulder, Riyo sighs, glances at the chrono on the bedside table. 

“We ought to get ready.” She gives Fox a nudge. “My mother is more a stickler for a tight schedule than you. She’ll be rushing us along sooner rather than later.”

Not that it matters. The trains to the country are rarely, if ever, on time. They’ll be late to their destination no matter when they arrive to the station. 

Throwing off the blankets, Riyo stretches and scoots out of bed, goes to the fresher. 

She turns on the tap, begins letting the turbo warm as she goes to the sink. Grimacing, she rubs sleep from her eyes, runs her fingers through her hair to work out a tangle. Fox must surely love her if he’s willing to wake next to her looking this rough. 

With another stretch, she pulls her nightgown and underthings off and tosses them away, grabs up her robe and wraps herself in it before going to fetch Fox. 

He’s at the edge of the bed, popping his neck. 

“The water is nearly ready,” she tells him, coming around and cupping his face, enjoying the stubble on his cheeks against her palms. 

He frowns, rubs at his neck. “I don’t-is it wise to-for is to do...that?”

“Take a shower? Absolutely,” she answers. “You don’t want to be smelly meeting my grandparents.”

Fox huffs. “That is not what I mean.”

He shoots the door an anxious look before dropping his gaze. 

“I don’t want to do anything improper.”

Riyo smiles. He’s so determined to be nothing less than perfect, it’s going to wear him down. 

He needs a moment of relaxation, a bit of reassurance, and some physical comfort. He’s been denied all three his whole life, and she’s determined to ensure he gets as much from her as she’s able to give. 

Her parents won’t barge in, and while they won’t ask, they’re aware she’s a grown woman in a mature relationship. They’ll give her privacy. 

Raicho, however…

Letting her hand drop, Riyo turns and hurries to the door, presses her hand to the lock. 

“That’s not suspicious,” he grumbles when she comes back to him, takes his hand. 

“You’re paranoid,” she murmurs, presses her lips to his knuckles. “Now come protect me in the shower.”

He snorts. “From what?”

“Slipping on the soap, shampoo in my eyes,” she leans in, “being unable to reach certain places.”

She lets the hand holding her robe loosen, letting the edges covering her open a generous amount. 

Fox sucks in a breath, his eyes trained on the strip of exposed flesh between her breasts. “Never knew your morning routine was so hazardous.”

Riyo nods. “I’m terribly clumsy.”

He waits a moment, as she lets the gap widen and more skin peeks out, his eyes trail down to her navel. Then he swallows. 

“And an underhanded negotiator.”

She doesn’t have the chance to defend against the accusation. 

Fox stands and scoops her up, causing her to yelp in surprise, before he begins carrying her toward the fresher. 

-

Riyo and Fox manage to make themselves decent before her mother begins banging on the door. 

She shouts about traffic and timetables, missing their train, only for Raicho to point out the trains are never on time. 

“Why should we be early when they’ll only be late?”

“Oh, Raicho, do be quiet.”

Their argument gets fainter as they get further away, probably go to the kitchen, and Riyo turns and smiles at Fox’s wary expression. 

“Will we miss the train?”

“Unlikely,” Riyo answers. “Their only constant is inconsistency.”

He nods, goes back in the fresher to wash the traces of shaving cream from his face. 

Going to the opening, Riyo leans on the doorframe and watches as he splashes water on his face, then stands back, pulls on his jacket, and examines his reflection. 

The troopers’ dress uniforms had been updated, not long after the gala that precipitated Fox and her relationship. Someone had apparently brought the ill-fitting nature and poorly thought out design to someone’s attention and new dress uniforms were commissioned. 

It’s much more comfortable, according to Fox, more functional and less constricting, and in Riyo’s opinion, a more flattering style. 

It seems to be a Corellian cut, a bit modified, white shirt under a long blue jacket with gold trim and a well tailored pair of pants. Fox cuts a dashing figure in it, a close resemblance to the daring men in the youngling tales he doesn’t care for. 

“It’s not too much?” He asks again, tugging on the jacket, inspecting how it hides the blasters at his hips. “I’ve got my blacks still. An extra set.”

Riyo shakes her head, waves at her own outfit, a traditional Pantoran dress with gold trim and gossamer layers, then up to her headdress with its tassels and gems. 

If anything, he may be underdressed for the occasion. His status as a guard, though, gives him the latitude to dress a little less formally. 

Stepping to him, she reaches out and buttons the front. 

“You look very handsome.”

He rolls his eyes, but looks pleased all the same. 

When her mother calls again, sounding increasingly annoyed, Riyo links her arm with Fox’s and steers him out of the fresher. 

A droid rolls in as they exit, beeping in irritation, presumably at their having kept it out and from gathering their luggage, and Fox shoots it a dark look. 

When they reach the living area, Riyo finds her mother directing a porter and droids, all gathering luggage and stacking each peice on a cart. 

“Be careful with that one,” her mother tells the droids hoisting a particularly cumbersome piece. “That’s the diamond centerpiece.”

She looks at Riyo, shakes her head. 

“Your Aunt Karri will never let me hear the end of it if it arrives broken.” She scowls. “She’s probably going to hate it even if it arrives in pristine condition.”

Huffing, she rushes over to assess the luggage on the cart before letting them move it. 

Fox leans down, his breath on Riyo’s ear. “Aunt Karri is the one who doesn’t like your mum?” 

Riyo nods, flashes him a smile. He’d memorized her family line, as surely as he’d memorized the underground of the city, then Riyo had filled in some very necessary gaps. Blood doesn’t make a person a friend.

“Do you get along with all your brothers equally?”

He’d huffed. “No.”

She’d explained the tangled web of family connections after that, how the four wife’s of the four Chuchi brothers were often at odds, which cousins got along, and which were cool relations. 

“Not so different than us clones then,” he’d said. “Minus the women.”

Once her mother has confirmed all the luggage and packages are secure, they make their way to the lower level, to the waiting transport. 

Fox somehow ends up squished between Riyo’s mother and father, Mako in his arms, riding the turbo down ahead of Riyo. 

Raicho snickers at his worried look, waves brightly to him as the doors slid shut. 

“Poor man,” she says. “He’s certainly earning that shower sex you gave him this morning.”

Cheeks burning, Riyo shoots her a glare. 

Raicho grins. 

“Your fresher is right next to mine, and you are not quiet.”

Ignoring her and pulling out her datapad, Riyo pulls up some files. Research for an upcoming bill. It’s as good a distraction as any. 

When they’d stopped independent security for each senator, they’d also cut senate aides. Many planets protested, pointing out that they needed the extra staff to cope with heavy schedules. Riyo hadn’t put in any such complaint. 

Truthfully, her life is simpler without Lassa’s cool judgment and Gettsi’s...unique and colorful insights. Besides no longer having to play referee for her aides, not having staff constantly underfoot, means more chances for time with Fox.

Other than an increased workload, which for a small, outer rim planet isn’t much, losing her staff and aides has been a blessing.

“While I’m glad one of us is regularly getting stuffed, and quite thoroughly by the sound of it, I’ll ask you to be a bit less vocal at our grandparents’.” She tuts. “Some of us are suffering forced celibacy, you little tart.”

“I was not-I’m not noisy,” Riyo finally grumbles, jabbing her datapad with unnecessary force, accidentally closing the file she’d been reading. 

Raicho grins. “You are.”

Rolling her eyes, Riyo huffs before fixing Raicho in a level look. 

“Rai, needle me all you like, but please be gentle with Fox. He’s anxious enough without you embarrassing him.”

Raicho’s expression softens. 

“Of course not. He’s darling.” She takes Riyo’s hand, squeezes it. “I really am pleased you’ve found someone to meet your ridiculously high standards, and to pound you silly.”

Riyo laughs.

“I only wish I’d have had as high standards,” she adds after a moment, all teasing gone from her voice. 

Biting her lip, Riyo hesitates, then asks, “How did your talk go last night?”

She’d been downstairs for a good amount of time. Riyo had listened for her door until Fox’s snoring had lulled her to sleep. 

As Era isn’t at her side, though, Riyo isn’t hopeful their meeting ended in a miraculous reconciliation. 

Raicho shrugs, rubs her eyes and watches the turbo lights coming back up. 

“Well enough, I suppose.” She shakes her head. “It’d be so much simpler if I hated him.”

But she didn’t. Inconveniently, she still very much cared for him.

“He says all the right things, but…” she closes her eyes. 

Riyo fills in the empty space. “What if they’re just words?” 

No action behind them. Empty promises to placate her.

Raicho opens her eyes, nods. 

The doors open to the now empty turbo and they step in, press the button to go to the entry level. 

“I just wish I could tell when he’s lying.” She presses her fingers to her temples for a moment, then lets her hands drop, looks at Riyo. “I suppose darling Fox never gives you fits about his honesty?”

Riyo bites her lip. “Well, I don’t believe Fox can lie.”

Or at least can’t lie well. She suspects its genetic manipulation, maybe part of the increased docility bred into them Riyo had read about. 

Whatever the reason, all of the troopers she’s interacted with are exceedingly honest and exceptionally bad liars. 

“Ugh,” Raicho grunts. “He really is perfect.”

-

The ride to the train depot takes only a few minutes, all the traffic Riyo’s mother had worried about never materializing. 

Predictably, the train is off schedule, running an hour behind.

Their luggage remains on the cart, parked in front of them as the women sit at a table in the station cafe, Fox, Riyo’s father, and Mako taking up a bench along the wall across from them. Breakfast is their best option to burn the hour wait away. 

Fox carefully spoons yogurt into Mako’s mouth, after first securing several napkins around his neck. 

“Give him a bite of biscuit,” Riyo hears her father say, breaking one in half and holding it out to Mako. 

“They’re in competition to see who can spoil him more,” her mother chuckles, watching Mako happily crumble the biscuit up, clap his hands and send crumbs flying. “He’ll never learn to walk, the way they carry him around.”

“He’ll learn in spite of them,” Raicho tells her. “Then they’ll still carry him about at the slightest sign of tiredness.”

Riyo nods. Fox had mentioned the girl Stone was seeing had voiced the same complaint against him, though none of the clones seemed fazed by the charge. 

“What’s the harm in a little spoiling?”

As their spoiling consists mainly of excessive affection, something they’d been cruelly denied most their short lives, Riyo can’t honestly say she sees harm.

When some of the yogurt dribbles out Mako’s mouth and onto the bib of napkins, Fox quickly begins blotting it away. 

When Mako appears uninterested in finishing his meal, Fox takes off the napkins and pulls out his datapad, hands it to Riyo’s father. He must select a book, because he passes the pad back as Fox settles Mako in the curve of his arm. He makes a face, then begins reading, allowing Mako to tap the pad with his sweaty little hand. 

“He really is marvelous with Mako,” Riyo hears her mother say. 

Raicho nods. 

“I normally don’t find humans all that attractive, but he’s won me over.” She sighs, shakes her head for added drama. “Though rather tragically he’s already attached, some bubble headed politician.”

Their mother rolls her eyes, picks up her glass and ignores her, looks at Riyo. “He’s not reconsidered marriage and kids?”

Riyo smiles weakly. “There’s nothing to reconsider.”

He’s got no rights, and sees that as an end all to his options. Riyo has been hesitant to broach the subject for fear of upsetting him unnecessarily. Maybe he has no interest in a future even with the available options?

“You mean you’ve not talked to him about it,” he mother says. “The man is smitten, Riyo. If he understood the intricacies of intergalactic laws and marriage rights…”

She sighs, glances at Fox, now holding Mako’s hands and helping him stand as Riyo’s father stands about a couple of meters away, trying to prompt a few steps from his grandson. 

“...he’d have you carried up the Steps of the Goddess in a heartbeat.”

Raicho pours an unnecessary amount of blue milk into her caf. “He’d have you stuffed up with a couple babies before you could skip the alter, too. Since you’re ‘alien’ and those cloners have no use for the fruit of your womb.”

Riyo bites back a laugh. Raicho had been torn between relief and annoyance when Riyo had divulged Stone’s discovery, that the Kaminoans seem largely uninterested with clone offspring unless the mothers are human.

“And what’s the matter with non-humans?” She’d grumbled over the holoprojector. “I mean, obviously it’s good. It means Mako may get a cousin, but-what sense does it make?”

As there was no answer, and she was unlikely to divine one from absent facts, Riyo had pushed the information aside. 

It was a convenient fact, one she hoped would ease Fox’s mind enough that someday he’d decide to pursue the future his heart so clearly wants. 

And if not? He is enough. What they have, however fleeting it may ultimately be, is enough. 

Their love is a rare thing, and more than most get. She’ll cherish it for however long she’s allowed it, and be grateful of the end result, whether that be a child or a happy existence together. 

Their mother groans. “Raicho, I-why must you be so coarse?”

“I’m not,” Raicho answers. “I’m realistic.”

They begin bickering, their natural state, so Riyo pours more sugar in her caf and watches Fox rather than listen.

He’s a curiosity in the station, catching more than a few stares. Pantora isn’t isolated, but it’s not a tourist destination. Humans, and indeed any other species, are a rarity on a visit. 

Beyond lacking blue skin and tattoos on his cheeks, he’s broad, even without his armor. It’s a visible contrast to most Pantoran men who are, largely, slight of frame and narrow faced. 

It’s a pleasant difference, she thinks. 

Though it does make him stand out, and she’s certain that bothers him more than he’ll admit. He’s used to blending in among men with his own face, this trip is certainly a departure from that. She wishes his armor weren’t such an oddity, then he’d at least have the security of his helmet.

Clone troopers, though, are unheard of on Pantoran soil. They'd be more conspicuous with him in full kit than in his dress wear. Without the armor, he’s nothing but a human male. Odd looking and out of place, but nothing special. 

People on Coruscant are hard pressed to recognize a clone outside their armor, it’s twice as unlikely on Pantora. 

“And I’m an even lower level target there than here,” Riyo had explained, when they’d discussed the trip logistics. “I’m not elected, I’m appointed. Unless someone is a devotee to off planet politics, I’m in no real danger.” 

The Chairman of the Assembly and the representatives are the faces of the government, not the Senator to the Republic. She’s simply a cog in the bureaucratic machine. 

“Though a very lucky cog,” she added, when Fox looked indignant. 

“They’re lucky to have you,” he assured her. 

She doesn’t doubt he feels that way, though she warned him there are plenty of representatives who don’t feel the same. When her appointment term comes to an end, she doesn’t doubt she’ll be replaced. 

The divides in Pantoran society have made for many unstable decades. Chairman Cho had been a rare point of stability, as well as a warning against complacency. 

Her only hope is that when her time is up, she’ll have worked out a plausible way to stay with Fox. 

She’s shaken from her sudden worry by Fox scooping Mako up, handing him to her father and marching toward the table. 

Confused by his sudden shift, as though he’s seen some danger, Riyo frowns and looks at her mother in time to hear her scold Raicho. 

“Goddess almighty, Raicho, is an extra hour of sleep really worth all your bellyaching?”

“That’s an hour of beauty sleep I’ve been robbed of, mother,” Raicho grumbles, nibbling on a dry looking fruit bar. 

“You hardly need it.”

Raicho’s eyes widen and Riyo freezes, feels Fox’s solid presence stop behind her, his hand coming to rest heavily, protectively, on her shoulder. 

For a moment Raicho doesn’t move, just grips her mug and stares at the wood grain pattern, then she turns and glares. 

“Brave of you turning up.”

“I said I would.”

“You’re late.”

“Trains are never on time.”

Raicho laughs, shoots their mother a look before looking over her shoulder at Fox. 

“Fox, let me introduce you,” she waves her hand at the man standing beside her, flush cheeked and uncertain expression frozen on his face. “This is my husband, Era.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Star Wars, I only play with the characters.

Mercifully, the train arrives before Fox has to do more than grunt a gruff greeting at the intruder.

They board the car and shuffle around, with Raicho’s louse of a husband lingering at her side. To Fox’s immense satisfaction, she sets herself between him and the window, leaving the idiot no choice but to take up the seat in front of her.

“I’d hoped we could talk.”

“I’d hoped you’d choked on your morning caf,” Raicho chirps back, not looking up from her datapad. “I suppose we’ll both just have to live with the disappointment.”

Fox chuckles, until the idiot turns his attention to Riyo. 

“Will you please talk to her?”

Riyo bites her lip, gives him a sympathetic smile.

“This is your battle, Era.”

Rubbing his eyes and sighing, he turns and settles into the seat beside Kai.

Riyo leans around Fox, fixes Raicho in a glare. “Why invite him if you won’t give him a moment?”

“Well I didn’t think he’d actually turn up, now did I?” Raicho hisses back.

“I can hear you,” the jerk grumbles, turning in his seat again, on his knees as he looks over the top at her. “And why wouldn’t I turn up? I told you I want to work things out between us.”

Glaring, Raicho puts her datapad back in front of her face.

Huffing, he turns and slumps back down.

Shifting Mako, settling him into the crook of his arm, Fox pulls out his datapad and pulls up another youngling tale.

“A long time ago,” he begins, as the train starts, the station slipping past through the window, “in a galaxy far, far way…”

-

The rush of the train lulls Fox to sleep, it isn’t until the seats in front of him jerk and his insides lurch that he shakes awake.

Groggily, he rubs his eyes.

His heart jumps to his throat when he realizes Mako isn’t secure in his arms. It nearly pounds from his chest before he sees him grinning from Raicho’s lap.

“Did you get a good nap?” She asks, before leaning in and grinning over at Riyo on the other side of him. “Goddess, Riyo, let the man get a bit of rest at night. He’s tuckered out.”

Fox flushes at the implication, but Riyo simply rolls her eyes. 

He’s on the cusp of telling her it was the unimaginative story, not nocturnal activities, that have him drowsy, but freezes when Riyo reaches up, brushes her thumb across the edge of his mouth. 

Drool. How dignified. 

Shooting her a grateful look, Fox runs a hand over his face, assuring himself he’s not got anything else embarrassing leaking out, before standing. He offers her a hand.

“I’ve got to go freshen this one up,” Raicho tells him, stepping around him before hurrying toward the fresher at the back.

They wait for her in the aisle, the silence settling over them heavily. Fox had felt less awkward while overseeing a committee meeting with Orn Free Taa where three of his mistresses, one a senator from an inconsequential mid rim planet, one an aide, and another a server girl, had unfortunately met.

He’d at least had his bucket on during that mess, been able to make pointless bets on who’d throw the first punch with Thorn. Now he’s stuck with his annoyed glare on full display.

“There’s transport waiting?” The jerk asks, looking between Miki and Kai. 

Kai simply nods, smiles faintly. 

After an eternity, Raicho reappears, bouncing Mako in her arms. 

“He was a ripe one,” she tells them as Mako giggles, gives her a sloppy kiss on the cheek. 

She brushes past her worthless slug of a husband leading the way off the train and out into the cool country air.

The station is a stark contrast to the one they’d entered in the city. It’s a wood construction, the boards echoing and creaking with each step of Fox’s boots. The windows are fogged and grimy, little sunlight filtering through, thick with dust.

Most stay on the train, prepare for the next leg of their journey in comfort as the handful of offloading passengers stand on the deck and wait for their luggage to be taken to waiting speeders. 

By Fox’s calculation, they’ll arrive just in time for the celebration to begin in the evening, and not a moment sooner. 

“We should’ve come earlier,” Kai tells him, as he takes Mako from Raicho, gives him a jiggle. 

“And have mum and Aunt Karri bickering longer than we have to?” Raicho huffs. “No thank you.”

Riyo rolls her eyes as she adjusts her headdress, a little lopsided from Fox leaning on it in his sleep. “Yes, only you can bicker endlessly with mum.”

The idiot has the good sense to cover his snort of laughter at that with an overzealous cough, though he still gets a glare from Raicho. 

Kai passes Mako to Fox so he can rush off and save a hapless porter from Miki, now standing by the luggage and fussing at him and the droids for mishandling the diamond centerpiece.

She’s still waving her hands, clearly upset at something, when the first speeder pulls up.

“Might as well get in and get you warm,” Riyo whispers to him, nudging him in the direction of the speeder door, open and waiting. “I’m going to go help my dad.”

Fox starts to protest, he’s her security after all, but she gives him a gentle shove then turns and hurries off before he gets the chance. 

Huffing, he nearly stays out to keep an eye on her, but then Mako begins squirming and he gives it up. He’ll be able to see her through the window well enough and his dress uniform is doing a pitiful job at holding off the Pantoran cold.

Raicho ducks in ahead of him, and just as he’s settled in beside her, the intruder plops in the seat across from them.

“Go to the other car, Era, I’m in no mood to talk.”

“Well then don’t, for once, and let me get a word in,” he grumbles. He holds up a hand. “That didn’t come out right.”

“Now I’m in no mood to listen either,” she snaps, throwing the door open and crawling out. She glares back in. “Do not follow me.”

She looks at Fox softly. “My apologies, Fox. Mind the baby will you?”

Without waiting for an answer, she slams the door.

The jerk stares at the closed door for a moment, blinks, then leans forward, elbows to knees, presses his fingers to his eyes. 

“That went splendidly,” he grumbles.

Fox ignores him, focuses on comforting Mako, who’d burst into tears at his mother’s outburst. He rests him on his shoulder, pats his back, and murmurs comforts into his hair. 

Tilting his head to better ignore the idiot, Fox squints out the window, watches Riyo.

It’s begun misting, and she’s put up an umbrella, huddled under it with a furiously gesticulating Raicho, a few yards from their parents. 

Riyo frowns, says something that makes Raicho scowl and stomp off, to the car behind Fox’s. To his annoyance, Riyo sighs, then runs after her, catches the door mid slam and ducks in.

He watches as after a few minutes, Kai steers Miki away from the now rolling luggage, being carted to the waiting speeders. They duck in the same door Riyo and Raicho had.

Sighing, he rests his cheek against Mako’s hair and closes his eyes. 

It’s going to be a long ride.

-

Riyo winces as her mother badgers the poor porter, warning him against rough handling.

“I warn you, young man, that centerpiece must be in pristine condition.”

“He understands, Miki.”

“No, he does not,” Riyo hears her mother grumble, then begins giving directions on proper handling.

A heavy mist starts, settling over her headdress, and Riyo sighs as a droid wheels over.

“Covering, ma’am?”

Nodding, she takes the umbrella and opens it, rests it on her shoulder. 

As her advice, to let the poor men do their job and get in the speeder, had been as entirely ignored as her father’s, she starts to turn and go back to Fox. If she’s lucky, Era will have moved to the next car and she’ll be able to at least hold Fox’s hand until they arrive at her grandparents’ house. She’s stopped by Raicho stomping up, grinding her teeth.

“The absolute nerve,” she huffs. 

Looking around her, Riyo frowns. “You left Fox with Mako and Era?”

A poor choice if there ever was. Fox isn’t inclined to be sympathetic, and Era can be a bit babbly. If Raicho’s aim is for her husband to be throttled, she may get her wish. 

“He’ll be fine.” She presses her fingers to her temples. “Goddess almighty, why did he have to come?”

“You invited him,” Riyo reminds her. “Rai, why don’t you go back and talk with him?”

He’s here. That’s effort, she should at least be civil. At least if things get dicey now, Fox is around, and won’t hesitate to toss Era from the ride. 

“I let him talk the other night.”

Riyo bites her lip. “Did you listen?”

Raicho scowls. 

“Not you too!” She huffs. “Yes I karking listened. I told you, pretty words that probably mean nothing.”

“He showed up.” Riyo points out, takes her hand. “Maybe he is sincere.”

“Does it matter?” 

Riyo frowns. “Of course it does.”

He’s putting a lot of effort into being ignored otherwise. He knows Raicho isn’t one to forgive easily. 

Glaring, Raicho turns on her heels and marches to the second speeder.

Sighing, Riyo shakes her head, chases after her, barely catching the speeder door before it slams shut.

“Raicho!” Riyo falls into the seat beside her sister. “What’s the matter with you? You wanted effort, and now you get it and you’re an absolute beast about it.”

Her breath catches when she spots tears streaking down Raicho’s face before she swats them away. 

“He’d told me he didn’t want any children when we got married,” she finally says. “He said he’d warned me and I just-I didn’t listen. Said I just-I thought I could argue until he wanted the same as me.”

Riyo stays silent. Much as she loves her sister, Era has a point. He’d never expressed any desire for children, and they’d been quite happy before Mako came along. It’s entirely like Raicho, though, to expect to be able to change someone’s mind with the force of her words and the strength of her belief. 

Raicho takes a deep breath, shudders as she bites her lip.

“And he was right.”

Riyo’s heart cracks. 

More tears slide down Raicho’s cheeks. 

Taking her hand, Riyo scoots closer, wraps her arms around Raicho as she slumps over into her shoulder. 

“I really did. I thought he’d grow out of it, change his mind...that I could make him-I’m such an idiot,” she mutters. “And poor Mako’s suck in this mess now. What kind of mother am I, Riyo?”

Rubbing her back, Riyo kisses the side of her head. “One that loves her child and makes mistakes.”

“Mum never does.”

“Mum’s out arguing about how to properly stack luggage,” Riyo reminds her. “I love her dearly, but she’s hardly perfect.”

Raicho chuckles, rubs her nose.

A few minutes pass, Raicho’s breathing evens out, then she sits up, wipes her face. 

“What do I do, Riyo?” She fixes Riyo in a broken look. “I love Era, I do. I’ve made such a mess of things though...I don’t know what to do.”

She can’t make Era feel differently and she can’t undo what’s been done, and Riyo doubts she would if she could. Whatever faults her sister has, she loves her son. She wouldn’t trade him for anything. 

Taking her hands, Riyo pats them, gnaws her lip.

“I don’t know either.”

She forces a smile. 

“I don’t know if this can be mended.”

It’s a fundamental divide between them. Era is there though, and however small the effort may feel, it’s a giant leap for him. They still love each other. This would all be much simpler to end if they didn’t. 

“But there is no hope if you don’t talk to him.”

She closes her eyes, remembers finding Fox had run off without explanation, when he’d first met Raicho and Mako on their visit to Coruscant.

Much as she’d pestered his brothers, half begged Thorn, Thire, and Stone, for an explanation, for help, they’d all given her the same advice. Talk to Fox. Nothing would heal them but their own efforts. 

They’d also given her the cryptic information that Fox was experiencing some acute panic over the future and her chances of a family. 

At first she’d been furious with him over that. There were two of them in the relationship, and it was presumptuous and cruel of him to decide without her they were at an end. 

Much as she wanted a family someday, she wanted him more. 

That fury had melted quickly enough. Fox was used to unilaterally being forced to make hard decisions, and so he’d done what came naturally to him. He’d put her well-being and happiness over his, just as he’d been drilled to do since his first conscious moment.

When she’d gone to him, seen what a wreck he was, any lingering anger had evaporated. He was trying to spare her pain, however much he may have failed. 

They’d reconciled as much by effort as by good luck. 

If Riyo had been even half as stubborn as Raicho, she may have lost a very good man, and a very great love, out of anger. If Fox hadn’t been willing to hear her out, they would’ve missed out on so much happiness. Their individual natures had saved them. Her sister and Era weren’t so blessed. 

“Neither one of you are obligated to forgive, but if you do love him, you should at least try to be adult and discuss what you want from your future.”

Sighing, Raicho makes a face. 

“I hate when you’re right.” She shoots Riyo a small smile, brushes away the last of her tears. “Damn politician, brokering peace talks. Are you always this good at negotiations?”

Riyo shrugs. “If Fox is to be believed.”

Raicho rolls her eyes. “Going down on the man isn’t negotiating.”

“Raicho!” Riyo hisses. “Don’t be vulgar.”

She ignores her. “Effective as hell, but any deal constructed while you’ve got his dick in your mo-”

Before she can get going, and to Riyo’s great relief, the door opens and her mother slides in, still complaining about the luggage. 

“It’ll be perfectly fine, Miki,” Riyo’s father assures her, patting her hand. “And if the centerpiece is broken, I’ll take Karri’s wrath.”

He looks around, between Raicho and Riyo, then frowns. 

“Left Era and Fox together, did we?” He grimaces. “Well, that’s one way to be rid of him.”

Riyo starts to get out, she hadn’t meant to stay with Raicho after all, but the speeder starts to move and she sighs. 

Hopefully Era doesn’t annoy Fox too much.

-

Fox reads Mako the tale, steadfastly ignoring the idiot.

When he finishes, Mako babbles and squirms, wiggles around until he’s standing on Fox’s thighs, little hands gripping his shoulders to steady his wobbly legs. 

“Fa, fa, fa,” he chants, stomping his foot, then he grins. 

“That so?” Fox answers back, pretending the nonsense makes any kind of sense. 

Mako is delighted with the acknowledgment, regardless of how genuine the understanding it is, squeals and collapses down. He giggles and rolls off Fox’s lap, into the seat beside him, begins trying to pull his left shoe off for some reason.

“You’re very good with him.”

Fox bites back a groan, glares over at the jerk.

He fidgets, shifts in the seat, then frowns. 

“Do they-er-are you given some kind of training for youngling? At the-ah, the factory?” He waves a hand. “You know, where they make-assemble, you clones.”

Glare never faltering, Fox stars at him for a moment, before flatly answering, “No.”

He doesn’t bother correcting the misconception about assembly. It’s not worth the breath. 

“Well, that's unfortunate,” the idiot sighs. “I could really use some training.”

He could use a punch in the mouth more, Fox thinks irritably.

Slouching down, he watches Fox and Mako’s interaction, a gentle game of tussling over the shoe that ends with Mako launching it across to the other seat. It bounces off the back of the seat and comes to a rest next to the jerk. 

He picks it up, stares at it a moment, then holds it out. 

Fox sighs and takes it from him, wrestles it back on Mako’s foot.

“You must think I’m a real cad,” he finally says, once Fox has settled Mako on his lap again. 

Fox simply stares at him, hoping his disdain is clear in his expression.

“This thing with Rai...it’s complicated.”

Arching an eyebrow, Fox snorts. “You left your wife and child.” He tilts his head, glares. “Seems pretty straightforward.”

The jerk grimaces. “Well, when you put it like that…”

Fox rolls his eyes. “There is no other way to put it.”

It’s dereliction of duty.

Focusing on Mako, Fox eases him back, rhythmically pats his leg until his little eyes drift shut and he yawns broadly.

“I’m not good with,” the jerk looks at Mako, “younglings.”

“Have you tried?” Fox grumbles, not expecting an answer. 

“Yes, actually.” His gaze drifts to his hands. “I’ve been in classes, reading up on child care...don’t know if it’s helped much.”

He leans forward, his elbows to his knees, frowns. 

“I never misled Raicho. I was always very clear I didn’t want kids.” He lets out a long breath. “But she just-she…”

A moment passes as he thinks, watches Mako, now sleeping soundly in Fox’s arms, then he shakes his head. 

“I love Rai. I love her and I want to try, but she’s just so angry with me-”

“Do you blame her?” Fox scowls. “You walked out.”

“I made a mistake.” He makes a face, slumps back in his seat. “Have you never just-have you never just been overwhelmed and out of your depths so much you make a very bad decision, not thinking about the consequences?”

He fixes Fox in a hopeless look. 

“Have you never done something with the best of intentions and have it be absolutely wrong?”

Fox’s insides freeze as he watches the other man scrub his hands over his face, a look etched into his features Fox knows, unfortunately. Regret for actions with good intentions. 

“Honest to the goddess, I didn’t think I could live up to her expectations,” he goes on. “I thought she’d be better off on her own.”

It’s a sentiment Fox is painfully familiar with. He’d vanished from Riyo’s life for much the same reason. 

Sometimes, in dark moments, he still thinks she may be better off without him holding her back, keeping her from a normal life. There are too many things she’ll miss out on with him dragging her down. 

Then she takes his hand and kisses his lips, smothers out the fear with affection he can’t imagine living without. She loves him, and never hesitates to let him know it. Breaking her heart isn’t something he can ever bear to do again. As long as he’s got the ability, he’ll be with her, give her every shred of love he’s got. 

“She won’t let me try though.”

Fox nods, gnaws the inside of his cheek as he considers the man in front of him.

If Riyo hadn’t been brave, if she hadn’t loved him enough to force the issue…

His insides roll. Fox would’ve stubbornly stayed away.

Pathetic as he is, Era plucked up the courage to do what Fox hadn’t. Be brave enough to face the uncertainty of the future, fear of inadequacy, for the person he loves. 

“I-I walked out on-on my...girlfriend,” Fox finally admits, inwardly groaning at the juvenile term, his gaze dropping to Mako. “We clones, we can’t marry, and having children...I thought she’d be happier without me.”

Era inches forward in his seat, nods. “And?”

Fox smiles. “She turned up in my office and told me I was a fool.”

He’s exceedingly lucky Riyo is less stubborn than her sister, more forgiving. They’d be nowhere otherwise. 

Groaning, Era flops back in his seat. “That’s lovely and all, but it doesn’t help me in the slightest.”

Chuckling, Fox shrugs, looks down at Mako, stretching in his sleep.

Now that he’s met Era, he can spot his features in Mako’s face. Fox hadn’t noticed them before, all blended with Raicho, into someone wholly unique. 

The back of his mind pricks up, imagines what his and Riyo’s child might look like. Whose nose or eyes? How blue would their skin be? 

He hopes they favor Riyo, it would be nothing less than a miracle…

His chest tightens. 

Normally he doesn’t indulge himself, torture himself, with his impossible children, but in this moment...they don’t feel quite so impossible.

Shaking the thought away, he looks back up at Era.

“You really love her?”

Era pushes himself up, runs his hands through his hair, nods.

“Why else would I be here?”

“Masochism?”

Era laughs, looks down at his boots. “Well, you’ve met my wife. I’d have to enjoy a bit of mental anguish, wouldn’t I?”

He looks up, smiling fondly. 

“She’s funny, isn’t she? And smart. She can argue circles around anyone in the high courts. It’s rather attractive.” He grimaces. “Until she’s arguing against you, that is.”

Fox nods, lips twitching. 

Era looks at Mako, smiles faintly. “I don't know how to be a parent, or a very good husband, evidently, but I’m going to do my best. If she’ll let me.”

Smoothing Mako’s hair, Fox sighs.

“Tell her that.”

“Don’t you think I’ve tried?” He shakes his head. “Maybe...maybe it’s just over.”

Silence settles over them, only broken by the speeder motor whirling and the wind blowing outside the windows. 

Era slouches down in his seat. “Your objection to my giving up is a real comfort.”

Fox shrugs. “I have had one relationship. I do not feel qualified to give comfort, genuine or not.”

And he’s not sure which it would be if he were to give it. Raicho still seems pretty furious, and she doesn’t have much of Riyo’s diplomatic nature. Getting her to give the man a chance seems an impossible task.

Nodding, Era sighs. “I appreciate the honesty.”

He watches as Fox shifts Mako, to his other arm. Half studying the motion and half envying him.

“You really are good with him,” he says. He frowns. “Can you not have children...physically? Are you equipped?”

Fox rolls his eyes. Just when he was starting to tolerate the man.

“It’s inadvisable.”

“So you’re not a eunuch or sterile.”

Fox glares. “No.”

Wincing at his tone, Era nods.

“How do they keep you from getting married then?” He frowns. “Should you so be inclined, that is.”

Eyebrows rising, Fox frowns, uncertain just what he means. 

“Well, I mean...marriage isn’t a galactic document.”

It’s a matter of each planet’s discretion, he explains. A fact that, often enough, results in tangled lines of inheritance when an individual marries and creates a family on multiple planets or systems. No galactic database exists. 

“Secret marriages are rather common,” he adds, shaking his head. “I had to handle the liquidation on a Twi’lek that had seven wives.”

He grimaces. 

“I’m having trouble enough with one.”

The information knocks around in Fox’s head, battering all his long held worries about the future. 

Riyo knows, she’d said the same thing as Era about marriage not being a galactic document. She’s never brought it up though.

Fox closes his eyes. Of course she hadn’t. She’s painfully careful about pressuring him, half fearful he’ll spook again and abandon her and half wanting him to bring the subject up himself. His life is his, and she won’t force anything on him.

It’s the same as when Stone told them about the Kaminoans ignoring the offspring of clones with non-human mothers. She’d had a closed but hopeful gleam in her eyes, but she hadn’t pressed the issue when Fox waved it off as too good to be true.

She wouldn’t push him. His comfort is always her priority. His choices are his own. 

Instead, she’d wait patiently for him, accepting what little he can offer and giving more than she’ll ever receive back.

He doesn’t deserve her, he thinks bitterly, and she deserves more than he’ll ever have to give. 

Opening his eyes, he sets his jaw.

It’s his turn to find a bit of courage.

“So,” Fox begins carefully, eyebrows knitting together, “someone could marry on Pantora, and Coruscant wouldn’t know?”

Era nods. “On Pantora, on Malastar, Naboo...anywhere. Bit of an oversight.”

Looking down, at Mako squirming more snug into his side, Fox battles down a small smile. 

“Yeah, it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Sorry, y’all. Next chapter should tie things up....I think. I hope.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Star Wars, I only play with the characters.

Fox is relieved when they arrive at the party. He may have developed something bordering on sympathy for the man, but he’s hardly qualified to give relationship advice or coach him on raising his son. 

“Your restraint is admirable,” Riyo whispers to him, when he and Era emerge from the transport. “Era has a habit of babbling. Raicho put credits on you throwing him from the moving speeder.”

Fox shrugs, watches as Era timidly approaches Raicho to beg for a talk, and to his great surprise, she seems to agree. They vanish down one of the venues many garden paths, past the barn-like structure serving as the staging area, Era shooting Fox a hopeful grin as he trails after his wife. 

“He’s an idiot,” Fox finally says, sighing. “But he’s not malicious.”

A little smile twitches up on Riyo’s lips. “Should I warn Thorn you've found a new best friend?”

Fox huffs. “Pity isn’t friendship.” He arches an eyebrow. “And who says Thorn is my best friend?”

“Thorn.”

He rolls his eyes. “Of course he does.”

It’s true, but Fox isn’t in the habit of admitting it. 

Fox hitches Mako up higher on his hip and sticks close to Riyo as she heads toward the sound of laughter, music, and excitement.

The party is already in full swing, relations and old friends out on the dance floor nestled in the enormous hedges adjacent to the barn where both Miki and her centerpiece disappear to. Kai sighs and follows after, muttering about avoiding bloodshed. 

They stick to the edges of the garden, weaving around chairs and tables, drunken family members who bid Riyo hazy greetings and call her by the wrong name. A couple give Fox a double look, but then shake their heads and continue using chairs and small children for balance. 

“I take it being falling down drunk is just part of the fun?” Fox asks as one elderly woman nearly trips on the hem of her spangled dress and dissolves into giggles. 

He’s seen shinies handle their liquor better. 

“Unfortunately,” Riyo answers, grinning. “Celebrations in the deep parts of the planet are a bit more...unbound than in the metropolitan areas.”

Which is a polite way of saying her country relatives lack a certain amount of decorum. 

They finally reach the long table at the edge of the dance floor, where a fountain with a sparkling drink is being attended to by a harried looking youth. Just behind him are an elderly pair greeting guests and laughing. 

“Grama! Grampa!” Riyo pulls them both into a hug and kisses their cheeks, begins speaking to them in rapid fire Pantoran. 

Fox stays back, lingering near the drink fountain, content to be ignored, until someone knocks into him. 

“Oh goddess! I’m sorry!” 

Instead of another inebriated family member, he finds Riyo’s cousin, Wini. She grimaces, pats her very pregnant belly. 

“I swear, I’ve gotten so large I’ve got my own gravitational pull.”

Despite being unsure what to say to that, Fox opens his mouth, lets it hang open stupidly until Riyo turns and saves him. 

“Wini, look at you!”

She wraps her in a hug before pulling back. 

“You look so beautiful!” 

“I look like a landed purrgil,” Wini counters, blowing a wayward bang from her face. “And my belly is trying to create a body count. I nearly sent Raicho’s new babysitter into the fountain.”

Flushing, Fox starts to correct her, but Riyo beats him to it. 

“No, I was about to introduce-Wini, this is Commander Fox. He’s my guard while I’m off Coruscant.” She tells her before looking back at her grandparents and repeating herself in Pantoran. 

Her grandmother’s eyes widen in alarm and she says something low and worried. 

“No, Gram,” Riyo quickly says before explaining something, likely that it’s protocol and she’s not a high level target. 

Her grandmother looks Fox up and down, thin eyebrows rising high on her head, says something that causes Riyo to smile and nod, flush a little indigo on her cheeks. 

Fox dearly wishes he had his translator. Riyo had warned him her grandparents’ basic was near to nonexistent, but he’d left it behind in favor of an extra razor and thicker, less careworn socks. His decision to attend to personal care and warmth was clearly a mistake. 

“So you’re not in danger?” Wini asks, eyes darting from Riyo to Fox. “That’s why there’s only one of you?”

Riyo laughs. “Of course I’m not. Half the planet probably couldn’t even pick me from a line up.”

Wini grins. “Explains why he’s been given babysitting duty as well. You can’t be in too much peril if your guard is being charged with watching this runt.”

“Mako has a bit of an attachment to the Commander,” Riyo tells her.

Wini snorts and mutters something in Pantoran.

Worries seemingly calmed, her grandmother reaches her boney hands to Mako. Her reedy voice wobbles as she holds out her hands. She wants the baby. 

Against his better judgement, she looks fragile and lacking in strength, Fox passes Mako to her. He’s her blood, and Fox has no right to keep her from him. 

She tottles a little as she adjusts Mako in her thin arms, then, to Fox’s relief, steadies. Riyo’s grandfather begins to tickle Mako as she taps his nose and coos at him in thick Pantoran, and Riyo whispers to Wini that Raicho is off talking with Era, leaving Fox empty armed and out of sorts. 

He tucks his hands behind his back and tries to blend in with the fountain behind him again. This is how it should be. He isn’t a guest here, not a beloved companion as he’d been at Riyo’s parents’ home. In this place he’s simply an uninvited observer with a job. 

“You get a boring assignment and then have a baby pushed off on you, what awful luck.”

It takes a moment for Fox to realize she’s speaking to him. 

“It’s no bother, ma’am,” he assures her. “He’s a good tyke.”

And having him at hand gives Fox a ready excuse not to be social. 

“He is,” she agrees. Fox winces as she thumps her belly, as if it were a melon at market and not her child growing inside. “Hopefully this one is half as agreeable. Though if the other three are any indication I’ll get another little beast.”

She pushes her hand in, presumably poking the baby inside. 

“Keeps kicking me in the bladder. I’ve not slept a full night in months.”

Fox nods, filing the information away, though to what end he isn’t sure. It feels important though, knowing that a growing infant has the ability to pummel and kick its mother from the inside. 

Pregnancy makes cloning seem far superior at every turn. He isn’t sure how so many species have proliferated with such a brutal means of reproduction, other than the means of creation are far more enticing. 

He supposes that’s enough though. 

“Well, getting a youngling dumped on you aside, I suppose this is a bit of a vacation for you, isn’t it?”

Nodding, Fox smiles faintly. “It is.”

His first vacation, if she were to prod. 

“Are you always assigned to Riyo?” 

“Not always, no.”

She sighs. “That’s unfortunate. I was hoping you’d be able to tell me if her social life is as boring now as it was when we were in the academy.”

Riyo rolls her eyes. “It is. I promise.”

Fox keeps his expression neutral. “Afraid that’s classified, ma’am.”

Wini snorts. 

She begins needling Riyo about being on the most exciting planet in the galaxy and having no good stories to tell, and Fox settles back on his heels. 

He keeps watch on Mako out of the corner of his eye, worried he’ll fall from the feeble arms of Riyo’s grandmother during a bid for escape, while watching Wini listen to Riyo explain her bill regarding produce compensation. 

She keeps one hand on her lower back, as a brace of sorts, while the other runs along the side of her rounded middle. Occasionally she presses her fingers in, denting the silken material of the dress. 

Despite being taller, more features in common with Raicho, Fox spots traces of Riyo in her beyond their matching marks on their cheeks. It makes her pregnant state all the more interesting. 

It’s easy to imagine Riyo in her place, belly full of their child, on the cusp of entering the world. Fox rarely indulges in fantasies, they’re pleasant distractions, but distractions still. He allows himself this one, though. No man is strong enough to fight off such a temptation, not even one as genetically perfected as Fox. 

Riyo’s grandfather suddenly calls for her, waving and grinning, and she gives Fox a reassuring smile before going to him, leaving him with Wini. 

“I take it pregnant women make you uncomfortable?”

Fox frowns. “I-not in particular.”

Uncertain, to be sure, but not necessarily uncomfortable.

“I only say that because you’ve been staring at my belly like it’s a bomb,” she clarifies, resting her hands on the swell of her stomach. “I promise, as enormous as I am, I won’t drop it out and on your boots.”

“It’s not that. I just…” he struggles for a moment, uncertain how to explain himself, finally settling on, “I have never actually been this near a pregnant woman before.”

Pregnant women are a rarity in the Senate, typically taking leave to work remotely before they begin showing. The only other place Fox would encounter them might be on patrol, and he’s of high enough rank street level work is covered by shinies and veterans who enjoy it to a degree. 

She frowns, nose wrinkling up a bit, then she snorts. 

“I’m afraid I don’t quite understand.” She tilts her head. “You’ve never met a pregnant woman before?”

Fox stares at her a moment, then sighs. Of course. She’s never seen a clone before, at least not one out of their armor and the detail had slipped Riyo’s mind. 

He grimaces. “Well, you see, they use growth jars on Kamino and I have not had any interactions with any pregnant females since being stationed on Coruscant.”

“Growth jars…” Wini’s eyes widen in sudden comprehension. “You’re a clone.”

When Fox nods in confirmation, she steps forward, presses her hand to her mouth. 

“Goddess of the moon. I wouldn’t have guessed.” Her expression softens. “You’re not quite the terrifying killer the Confederacy propaganda paints you as.” 

Uncertain if that’s a compliment or not, Fox simply waits. 

Then she laughs. “Perfect soldier and Raicho has you carting around her baby.”

Cautiously, Fox smiles. “Just serving the Republic, ma’am.”

“Personalized care for all,” she grins, pats her belly. “Well, when this one arrives I’ll have four. So if the Grand Army can spare one of your fellows I’d be quite happy to have the help.”

Fox nods gravely. “I will make sure your request is expedited.”

“See that you do.”

She makes a face, presses her hand to the middle of her belly, then smiles. “Baby’s kicking again.” 

A moment passes, then she bites her lip. 

“Would you like to feel it?”

When Fox only frowns in confusion, she pats her stomach. “The baby. Do you want to feel it kick? If you've never done so...it’s interesting at least.”

Fox hesitates. “That seems improper-”

“It’s not.” She holds out her hand. “Unless you run up on someone and do it without permission.”

Not waiting, and undoubtedly sensing Fox is more eager than he’s willing to say, she grabs his hand and presses it to her belly. 

At first nothing happens, and Fox nearly pulls his hand back, afraid of looking like he’s accosting her, then something pushes back on his fingertips. 

His eyes widen and Wini snorts. 

“That’s her.”

Bravely, Fox lets the palm of his hand come to a rest on her belly, and is greeted with more movement.

“She likes the music,” Wini tells him. “She’s been in there dancing since the party began.”

Fox gives her a concerned look. “Does it hurt?”

Because something bouncing around and jabbing internal organs seems uncomfortable at the least. Quite possibly dangerous. 

She shakes her head. “Odd feeling, obviously, but not painful.”

Certain as he is that she’s likely downplaying her discomfort, Fox just nods and keeps his hand on the movement underneath. 

“Must seem weird to you,” Wini finally says, moving his hand to another spot, pressing it more firmly in, “a person growing in another person.”

It is, but it’s also amazing. There’s a strange kind of beauty in it. Fox feels even more artificial in proximity to something so mundane but natural. 

“Always looking for a feel up, aren’t you Win?”

Fox yanks his hand back quicker than if he’d been burned. 

Wini rolls her eyes, puts her hand on her lower back as she turns to Raicho standing just behind her. 

“Well I didn’t get knocked up three times by playing coy.”

Raicho snorts and pulls her into a hug, kisses her cheek. “And well knocked up you are. You’ll pop before long.”

“Another month.”

Raicho winces in sympathy.

Smile freezing, Wini glances at Era, standing a cautious foot from Raicho.

“Have the two of you made up?”

Era starts to answer, but Raicho beats him to it with a snort. 

“Not quite.” She smiles. “But I’m no longer plotting his death with every breath, so I suppose that’s progress.”

She spots Riyo and her grandparents and excuses herself in the next breath, giving Fox a wink as she brushes past him. To Fox’s great relief, she snatches Mako from her grandmother, settling him securely on her hip before giving hugs and kisses to her grandparents. 

“Not wanting you dead is progress,” Wini agrees, forcing a smile. 

Era chuckles darkly. “High aspirations for a marriage.”

Before Wini can start prodding him about his and Raicho’s conversation, a small girl stomps over, flings her arms around her middle. 

“Mum, Ito is going to tell you I kicked him.”

Wini arches an eyebrow. “Did you?”

The little girl steps back, puts her hands on her hips and huffs. “Well, yes. But he deserved it.”

Sighing, Wini rolls her eyes and shoots Era a grin. 

“Be grateful Rai has grown out of this stage. Otherwise you’d be missing an appendage by now.”

Judging by Era’s expression, he agrees. 

“What did poor Ito do to earn your violent outburst?” Wini asks, rubbing her temples. 

The girl, her daughter evidently, though Fox doesn’t recall her from any of Riyo’s family documents, crosses her arms. “He wouldn’t dance with me or Tili.”

Wini rolls her eyes. “A high crime if there ever was.”

Fox chuckles as the youngling begins defending her action, animatedly waving her small hands as she makes her case. 

She’s begun detailing the boy’s offenses, ticking them off on tiny fingers with enough gusto to make Era step back from the scene, when Fox feels a tug at his cuff.

Looking down, he frowns when he finds a mirror image of the irate girl staring up at him.

The two are identical, from their dark purple hair to their shiny black shoes, right down to the pale purple freckles across their noses. The Kaminoans couldn’t have engineered a more perfect replica. 

He’s so entranced with her, he’s read about natural clones, twins, but never seen a pair of near humans so close, that he misses that she’s said something.

“Pardon?”

Her nose wrinkles up and she frowns. She repeats herself. “Are you a prince?”

When she’s greeted with only a confused frown, she tugs on his jacket front. 

“You’re dressed like a prince.”

Shaking his head, Fox forces a smile. “No, miss, I’m a Commander. This is my dress uniform.”

“A commander?” She tilts her head, a few purple strands falling from her headpiece. “Is that like a knight?”

Instantly, images of Jedi, with their impractical robes and laser swords form in Fox’s head. As neither their tactics nor methods have impressed Fox in his few interactions with them, it’s not a favorable comparison in his mind. Still, he doubts the youngling means any insult.

“No,” he tells her. “It’s a soldier.”

She considers him for a moment, then grabs his hand. “Can soldiers dance?”

Fox opens his mouth to answer, but gets cut off by the girl’s sister grabbing his other hand, all thoughts of little boys with bruised shins forgotten. She squints up at him. 

“You’re Aunt Riyo’s date.”

Fox starts to correct her, he’s there as a work protocol, however much he’d like otherwise, she doesn’t give him the chance though. 

“Did she pick your outfit? It’s pretty. Mum picked dad’s.” She turns and gives Era an up and down look. “Aunt Raicho didn’t pick yours.”

Fox nearly chokes as Era looks down at his outfit. It’s no different than most of the other Pantoran Male’s present. 

“Mili!”

Freezing, both girls look at their mother. 

Wini pats Era’s arm. “You look fine. Mili is just channeling her aunt’s less pleasant traits.” She gives Mili a sharp look. “Namely lack of tact.”

“That’s just not saying true stuff,” Mili points out, rather wisely if Fox were asked. 

“Hm,” is all Wini replies with before giving Fox a wane smile. 

“My apologies. Once they learn the walk and talk keeping them from menacing society is rather difficult.”

Especially given her current state, Fox thinks wryly. 

“They’re no bother,” Fox assures her. It’s not quite a lie. The younglings are a bit overwhelming, but not bothersome. 

Looking dubious at that, Wini puts a hand on each girl’s head. 

“Let me at least introduce you to your attackers,” he tells him. “These are my eldest, Mili and Tili.”

While Fox would never claim to be proficient at guessing natborn ages, he suspects they’re no more than six standard years. Probably born after the family tree he’d memorized was finalized.

Mili puts her hands to her hips. “So will you dance with us?”

Tili takes his hand again, her lower lip jutting out just enough to be noticed. “Please?”

She’s got a future in politics. She’s every bit as cunning as Riyo. 

Glancing up at Wini, Fox finds her silently laughing behind her hand. 

“Er-how, exactly, am I to do that?” He holds his hand level, at the height of their heads. “You are both quite short.”

Tili laughs, begins pulling him along. “It’s easy, we’ll show you!”

Wini grabs Mili by the arm. “You aren’t going anywhere, young lady. You need to apologize to your uncle.”

Mili huffs, turns and smiles at Era. “Sorry Uncle Era. You don’t look any worse than you normally do.”

Fox bites the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. The youngling certainly has Raicho’s spirit. 

Era sighs. “Thanks.”

Wini simply covers her eyes, mutters something to herself as the girls drag Fox off to the dance floor. 

Dancing with younglings, it turns out, is less rhythm and skill and more waddling in a circle with them standing on Fox’s toes. 

“You’re a very good dancer,” Mili tells him with a giggle, after directing him to spin her.

Considering he’s only following her and Tili’s very detailed instructions, the paise feels a bit self-directed. 

He picks her up and gives her another twirl. “Thanks.” 

“Me next!” Tili shouts, taking his hand.

Lifting her, Fox chuckles as she squeals when he spins in place again.

Setting her down, he’s trying to catch his balance when he feels a warm hand on his back, steadying him.

“Be careful,” Riyo tells him softly. “You’ll land boots up if you aren’t careful.”

Head still swimming, Fox nods, gives her a small smile. 

“Auntie Riyo, we’re teaching Commander to dance,” Mili informs her. “He’s getting very good.”

Riyo smiles. “I know. I’ve been watching.”

Fox feels heat creep up his neck. He’d probably looked like an idiot, stumbling around like a newborn nerf with younglings on his boots and spinning around like a drunk shiny. 

“His lessons will have to hold though, your mother wants you,” she tells them. 

Tili’s shoulders droop, but she nods in resignation and starts in the direction of their mother. Mili huffs and grumbles, but follows after just the same. 

Once they’re safely away, too far to hear, Riyo shoots Fox a look. 

“Should I be worried you’ve found more engaging girlfriends?”

Glancing toward the girls, now being given slices of a fruity cake by Wini, Fox shakes his head. 

“I like older women.”

Riyo snorts. “That’s a relief.”

Tucking his hands behind his back, he waits, at a loss of what to do. Out in the open is always a precarious place to be. There’s no allowance for affection, even of the most fleeting variety. 

Still, maybe a dance wouldn’t be seen as too improper. It could be dismissed as nothing more than a comradely action. Especially if she initiates the interaction. 

Riyo bites her lip, takes a breath. 

“Would it be too much trouble to ask for a dance?” She gives him a small smile, clearly reading his mind. “Though I warn you, I’m not nearly so light on my feet as the younglings.”

Fox chuckles. “That may be for the best. If I spin much more I may end up flat on my back.”

Holding out her hand, she leans in slightly. “As fond as I am of you on your back, it may be best not to have it happen in such a public place.”

Groaning, Fox takes her hand and leads the dance, deciding against needling her for dirty thoughts. 

They stick to the edge of the floor, Fox keeping one hand carefully at her waist and the other gently holding her hand. There’s enough space between their bodies the hem of Riyo’s gown doesn't even brush the tops of his boot tips as they move. 

Still, the proximity is more than he normally allows in public. It’s intoxicating, despite being painfully mundane. 

Inhaling, he can smell her shampoo and the soap on her skin, traces of wine on her breath as she exhales. 

“Wini let you feel the baby?” 

It’s not so much a question, despite the inflection, as it is a statement. 

Fox nods, tries to keep his eyeline up. If he looks down it will appear he’s staring down the front of her dress. 

Which he would be, but he’d like to maintain a shred of dignity. 

“I’m afraid I’d look as if I were smuggling a bolo-ball if I were to be pregnant.”

He can see her lips twitching and he sighs at her attempt at levity. 

“You would be lovely.” And he’d treasure every moment watching her grow. Their child growing in her would be the simplest wonder of his short life. 

Her expression softens. 

“Fox…”

Her lips stay parted, some comfort hanging on them, but she doesn’t let it fall off. No matter how much she’d like to tell him his fantasies are possibilities, she bites them back. 

As always, she’s determined to let him come to his own mind on matters. Even when it so deeply affects her. 

A dull ache forms in his chest and he’s on the cusp of asking her for a walk, he needs air, when the music switches tempos and Miki comes rushing up.

“I need an unrelated alibi,” she tells them as she takes Fox by the hand and pulls him away. “Come along, Commander. You’re meant to protect, so now is the time.”

Confused, Fox lets her drag him along, casting Riyo a worried look, then carefully leads the dance. 

“May I ask what you’ve done to need an alibi?”

She grins. “Best if you don’t. Plausible deniability.”

“Sounds ominous.”

“Only if your name is Karri Chuchi.”

Fox sighs, shakes his head, leads the dance until the music ends. Miki smiles, links her arm with his just as someone screams from near the staging barn. 

“Walk with me, Fox.”

Reluctant to lose sight of Riyo, but reasonably confident the only danger for miles is of the feuding family variety, Fox allows Miki to guide him down one of the little footpaths, into the darker parts of the garden. 

Quietly, they follow the path, under a lavender colored canopy of sweet smelling flowers and then bank upward, into a pool of cool moonlight at the foot of grey stone steps. 

“Riyo tells me you like to research things before encountering them,” she says simply. “What have you read about the Steps of the Goddess?”

Staring at the steps, his eyes following them up as they gently rise, to where they level off to what he’d read is a stone plateau with a low wall around the edge. 

“It is a place of passage,” he answers. 

Where babies are dedicated.

Funerals are held.

Where marriages take place. 

Beyond that he knows little more than what Riyo has divulged. The HoloNet, he’s found, is a bit sparse on information unless it’s regarding humans. An oversight he’s been hindered by more and more during his time on Coruscant. 

“Why did you bring me here?”

She smiles softly, shrugs. 

“Era mentioned you showed an interest in Pantoran marriage law. I thought you might enjoy seeing it.”

He arches an eyebrow. 

She sighs. “Oh alright, I thought you might be reconsidering marriage.”

Fox shakes his head. Even with his newfound knowledge, that the Republic has no way of knowing who has married or even the veracity of the ones they willingly acknowledge, it’s too risky. 

“It is not allowed.”

Miki huffs. “Is what you have with Riyo now allowed?”

Fox stares at her. 

Technically, no, it isn’t. Their fraternization breaks a dozen regulations on his side. Such liaisons have been tolerated, mostly because regulating them had turned into a nightmare when instituted. The relations are ignored for convenience now. 

No other relationships are between clones and senators, though, at least to Fox’s knowledge.

Even with Riyo’s low status in the Senate, it would be a high profile case, and a one way ticket back to Kamino for reconditioning and reassignment for Fox. 

“No, not really,” he finally admits.

She nods. “Then what difference?”

Sighing, Fox runs his hand over his face. He doesn’t have an answer for that, not really. It’s simply a matter of linguistics, he supposes. Marriage gives a formality, a name, to the relationship.

“In the eyes of anyone on Pantora, your dedication to one another would be as good as a marriage at this point,” she adds. “Any family you make would be seen as legitimate.”

Fox snorts, remembering something Era had said, about the much maligned ‘quiet marriages’ of Pantora. 

“They say there are no unwed mothers on Pantora,” he’d told Fox, “only many absent fathers.”

But with the design of Pantoran marriage rites, there was no way to dispute the claims. The children and their mothers simply lived with the shadow of suspicion for the rest of their lives, that their fathers are fictitious and the marriages a fabrication, at least according to Era. 

“They would be suspect,” he corrects her. “Society would believe-”

“Oh to whatever hell will have it with society,” Miki cuts him off. “And the same with the Republic if it sees fit to treat men as products.”

She points at the Steps. 

“Whether you take those steps with Riyo or not, make a pledge to her or not, in my eyes, in Kai and Raicho’s eyes, you are her husband.” She takes his hand, smiles up at him with a look so reminiscent of Riyo it nearly takes his breath. “But for your own sweet soul, I think you should. I think you deserve that bit of normalcy.”

Fox feels his eyes sting and the edges of his lips twitch up. 

“Thank you.”

Miki takes his face in her warm hands, kisses his cheek. 

“Thank me with a happy daughter.” She thinks for a moment, then adds, “And perhaps a few more grandchildren, as it seems Raicho is at her limit.”

Fox chuckles. “I’ll try, ma’am.”

“See that you do.” Her eyes crinkle up at the edges. “Welcome to the family, Fox.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: This was supposed to be a one shot, but it’s turned into the fanfic equivalent of the song that doesn’t end. One more chapter. I think. Hopefully.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Star Wars, I only play with the characters.

Riyo tries to keep her focus on Wini as she explains how Aunt Karri had manipulated her husband into being the cook for the night.

“-the stupidest part of it all is he’d have happily helped, you know he loves Grama and Grampa, but she made such a spectacle, and was so obnoxious.” She shakes her head. “He couldn’t subject his staff to that.”

“Of course not,” Raicho agrees. “She’s a nightmare. They’d all quit half an hour after being here. He couldn’t risk having to replace his entire kitchen just for this. Grama and Grampa understand.”

She bites into one of the fried breads on her plate, falumpaset cheese oozing out.

“Even with temp staff, everything still tastes fantastic.”

Wini snorts. “He’ll be thrilled to hear it.”

As she begins prodding Raicho about her and Era, Riyo’s attention drifts over her shoulder to the dancefloor. 

Fox is tottering back and forth, wobbling with first Mili then Tili standing on the toes of his boots. 

Each girl is giving him directions, turn this way or that, grinning up at him as he very carefully follows their lead. Fox’s expression is one of deep concentration. Riyo bites her lip to fight down a laugh at how very seriously he’s taking thier dance instruction.

A dull ache settles in her chest as he smiles faintly at something Mili says, most likely telling him to dance faster as that’s his next move. 

For a moment she imagines him dancing with another child, their child, happily taking directions from a little girl with Pantoran blue skin and his soft brown eyes. The image forms in her mind far too easily. It’s too sweet a fantasy to brush off, and in the safety of her home world, she can’t force herself to. 

When Fox crouches down, eye level with the children, nodding solemnly at something they tell him, the ache gets a little sharper.

He’d be an excellent father, probably a shade too indulgent, but that wouldn’t be a fault Riyo could condemn him for. Not considering how void of such kindness his own so-called childhood had been. 

“Not that Riyo will have much to worry about,” Wini says, drawing Riyo back into the conversation. “I think her sweet Commander will be quite happy to give her as many or as few children as she likes.”

Face flushing, Riyo huffs. “You’ve still got quite an imagination.”

“I’ve got eyes,” Wini corrects her. “And anyone with a pair even half as sharp as mine would see how the two of you watch one another.”

“He’s my guard.” Riyo points out, wishing her cheeks weren’t so tellingly blushing. “He’s literally here to watch me.”

“Hm.” Wini’s eyebrows rise. “And what reason do you have to watch him?”

Rubbing her temples, Riyo sighs. “Should I not be aware of where my guard is?”

Shaking her head, Wini laughs. 

“Have your secret then, Riyo, but I’m not blind.” She rubs her belly, glances over her shoulder at Fox with her daughters. “He seems like a good man. Odd looking, but what human isn’t? Good with younglings at any rate.”

Raicho sighs.

“Brilliant with them, more like.” She smiles softly to where Fox is spinning with one of the girls, making them giggle wildly. “If things don’t work out between me and Era, I suppose I can come to Coruscant and court one of his brothers. If being good with younglings is bred into them, that is.”

Wini arches an eyebrow. “Didn’t you say humans were bland and smelt like moldering moss?”

Raicho shrugs. 

“They are and they do, but personality accounts for something and dab a bit of cologne on them and there you go.”

“How generous of you,” Riyo mutters, eyes rolling and involuntarily looking back at Fox.

“I think so,” Raicho nods. 

Riyo sighs and closes her eyes, rubs at the soreness at her temple where her hair is pulled too tightly. 

Wini winces, expression tight for a moment before relaxing, smiling at Riyo. 

“Well here’s a gift, can you go rescue your Commander from my spawn? They’ll be beside themselves if they don’t get their cake while it’s chilled.”

Not waiting to be asked twice, and eager to avoid further questions about her supposedly non existent love life, Riyo hurries off around the edge of the dance floor. 

Fox spins again, and Riyo spots a small grin form on his lips as he sits Tili down, hears her delighted laugh. 

He totters a bit drunkenly, stumbles backward and Riyo puts a hand up, steadies him with a gentle touch. 

“Be careful. You’ll land boots up if you aren’t careful.”

Fox nods, gives her a sheepish smile as he sways slightly, his eyes still unfocused. 

“Auntie Riyo, we’re teaching Commander to dance,” Mili informs her. “He’s getting very good.”

Riyo smiles, chuckles. “I know. I’ve been watching.”

She reaches out and tucks a loose strand back into Mili’s hairpiece, gives Tili a soft smile. 

“His lessons will have to hold though, your mother wants you,” she tells them.

Tili wilts, then nods dejectedly and starts in the direction of their mother. Mili huffs and grumbles, seems to consider arguing before marching after her sister. 

Riyo waits until they’re a safe distance away before she shoots Fox a look.

“Should I be worried you’ve found more engaging girlfriends?”

Fox glance toward the girls, now happily eating their cake with Wini, shakes his head as a smile ghosts onto his lips. He’s gives her a quick up and down. 

“I like older women.”

Riyo snorts. Fox never gives himself credit for being funny. 

“That’s a relief.”

His eyes drop and he tucks his hands behind his back, waiting for direction. 

It’s as it always is when they’re out in public, a delicate situation. There’s no room for even the most innocent action. Anything that might be construed as too intimate has to be avoided, for both their sakes. 

It is a party, though, so a dance should be expected. That’s what she tells herself, anyways. 

Riyo bites her lip, takes a breath.

“Would it be too much trouble to ask for a dance?” She gives him a small smile, hoping he understands her ploy. “Though I warn you, I’m not nearly so light on my feet as the younglings.”

The recognition lights his eyes and he chuckles. 

“That may be for the best. If I spin much more I may end up flat on my back.”

She holds out her hand, eases in a fraction as her voice goes low so only he can hear. 

“As fond as I am of you on your back, it may be best not to have it happen in such a public place.”

Fox closes his eyes and makes a low noise, a soft rumble in his chest, and Riyo bites back a laugh as a little pink tinges his cheeks. He rarely finds her bawdy jabs as funny as she does. 

Whatever he may think of her joke, he keeps it to himself as he strategically places one hand at her waist and holds her hand with his other, putting a respectable distance between their bodies. There’s not even the hint of impropriety, as stifled as they must look from the outside, not even close enough for the swish of Riyo’s skirt to brush his boots. 

Still, it’s closer than they normally get. She’s near enough she can smell his morning caf on his breath, the fruity scent of her shampoo from their shower clinging to his hair, even the cheap military grade soap his uniform was washed in. It takes every ounce of her self control not to press up on her toes and kiss him. She shakes her head, dislodges the impulse. 

“Wini let you feel the baby?” She asks, less for confirmation and more just to hear his thoughts. He’s never felt a life grown naturally before, at least not to her knowledge. 

Studiously keeping his eyes up, he nods, doesn’t offer a comment.

Riyo waits a beat, bites her lip as she considers him. 

She’d seen his face, the look of pure wonderment as Wini had pressed his hand to her belly. There’d been a sting of jealousy as she’d watched him relax, let his hand rest fully on the swell of her cousin’s pregnant middle. It’s a moment she wants for herself, though she’d never say so aloud. Giving it voice would only hurt Fox, put him in that dark, broody place to contemplate all the things he’s not allowed, all the things he thinks he’s keeping her from. 

It’s a ridiculous line of thought to her. He’s not the one setting the terms, not really, but in his mind he is. The Kaminoans training still has his thoughts in a trap, keeping them too narrow to see he’s never been given a choice in any matter regarding his life. 

Taking a breath, she blinks away the thoughts. This isn’t the time to ponder his lack of self-determination. 

Even if there is an option open to him. Maybe not the existence he’d like or even deserves, but one with her. 

She mentally scolds herself. 

It’s unfair of her to hope a half-life on him, hidden in the corners and shadows, even if she’d gladly accept what little happiness they could carve out. A life lived away from the outside world is still a life, but he deserves better. 

She takes a breath, peaks up at him through her lashes. 

The stubble on his jaw is already growing back, dark and thick. Her fingers itch to run over it, feel the prickle of it on her skin, give him a shred of comfort from her touch. 

Now isn’t the time though. Like everything between them, that must wait until later, behind closed doors. She has no choice but to accept it, if she wants any kind of life with Fox in it. 

That reality makes her thoughts of marriage and children feel even more fanciful and cruelly out of reach. 

“I’m afraid I’d look as if I were smuggling a bolo-ball if I were to be pregnant,” she finally says, hoping to distract her own mind as much as to ease him. Her lips twitch at the ridiculousness of the statement.

Fox’s eyes close and he lets out a long breath. 

A moment passes. 

“You would be lovely.” 

Riyo isn’t sure if the catch in his voice is regret at something he feels he’s taking from her, or his own brand of muted fury at yet another thing he’s being denied. 

“Fox…” 

She wants to comfort him, ease whatever thoughts are filling his mind, but swallows them down. 

Prodding him won’t help anything. He deserves her patience and to let him decide if he wants to talk.

His finger flex at her waist and she hears him take a sharp breath, eyeline lowering from the indefinite point over her head down to her face, and she knows he’s on the cusp of saying something. 

Then the music’s tempo swings up and her mother comes rushing in.

“I need an unrelated alibi,” she says, grabbing Fox by the hand and pulls him with her. “Come along, Commander. You’re meant to protect, so now is the time.”

Fox hesitates, just enough for Riyo to notice, casts a worried look over his shoulder before leading her mother in a dance. 

Shrinking back, Riyo presses herself against the wall and watches them for a moment. 

Fox is no less proper with her mother, keeping the cage of his arms up and his hands in respectably positions. 

“He does look the part of a prince, doesn’t he?” 

Raicho settles in beside her, crosses her arms and smiles. 

“That’s what Mili and Tili thought. Told him he was dressed like a prince,” she clarifies. “He’s probably got better manners than most royalty though.”

Riyo snorts. “You’ve never met Bail Organa.”

The man has impeccable manners. 

“From Alderaan?” Raicho frowns. “Is he really royalty?”

Shrugging, Riyo watches as her mother steers Fox nearer and nearer one of the footpaths. She makes it appear part of the dance, happenstance, but Riyo knows her mother too well to believe that. She’s up to something. 

“You should ask,” Raicho carries on. “I know Pantoran government is a bit maddening, but at least we’re trying to level things out.”

“With limited success,” Riyo points out, eyes still on the back of Fox’s head. “Look at the Assembly members.”

With the exception of a handful of representatives, most are from old families. Their names have been on the dockets since inception. Even Riyo and Raicho, through their mother, are part of the old lines of descent. That connection had certainly helped their careers, even without exploiting it. 

For all its attempts, Pantora is still stubbornly stuck in a system with little upward mobility. The titles have been removed, but little good has actually come of it. 

“Fair point,” Raicho agrees. She frowns as their mother edges closer to the door. “What do you suppose she’s up to?”

Riyo sighs, presses her fingers to her eyes. “Something foolish, I’m certain.”

She can only imagine and hope she’s being paranoid. 

“Undoubtedly,” Raicho agrees. “She’s such a romantic. You two are a regular single-credit store flimsiback.”

“Cheap and poorly conceived?”

“Sickeningly sweet and destined for a happiness.”

Riyo snorts, smiles as Fox gives her mother a twirl. 

“You do,” Raicho says softly. 

Frowning, Riyo looks at her, eyebrows pulling together. 

“Deserve happiness,” Raicho clarifies. “Both of you deserve all the happiness in the world.”

Riyo bites her lip. 

“What we deserve and what we get aren’t always in line.” She smiles sadly. “You know there’s no hope for a normal life for the two of us.”

However much they may want it. 

“Kark normal,” Raicho huffs. “Make your own normal.”

Riyo laughs. If only it were that simple. 

“It’s not just up to me, Rai.”

“Then convince him,” she grumbles. “Not that it’ll be hard. The man loves you, and I’ll be a gundark if he doesn’t want to start a family the way he is with Mako.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Then what is?” Raicho frowns. “What is the point, Riyo? I know you say he’s not allowed, but we both know the Republic hasn’t got a way to know what’s done with marriages and you could have a litter and know one would ever be the wiser who the father is.”

Her voice breaks. 

“So what is the point?”

Riyo closes her eyes.

“It’s his choice to make.”

“And your feelings don’t matter?”

Riyo sighs, gives her sister a tired look. 

“Of course they do. My feelings are very clear. But the decision is his.” She blinks back tears. “He’s had so few choices in his life, Rai. This is his to make. I won’t take it from him.”

It’s the one time she can guarantee his wishes will be honored, and she won’t fail him. 

Raicho’s expression softens and she stares at Riyo for a moment. Then she lets out a long breath, takes her hand. 

“Do me a favor,” she says, “and don’t let Era know selfishness isn’t a common thread in our genes.”

Riyo squeezes her hand. “You aren’t selfish.”

“I’m hardly as selfless as you.” She wrinkles her nose. “It’s a bit nauseating. Aren’t politicians supposed to be self-serving and corrupt? You’re giving your fellow senators a bad name.”

Laughing, Riyo shrugs. “I’ll try harder to be more of a disappointment.”

“See that you do.” Raich grins. “I don’t know how long I can live with the cognitive dissonance.”

-

Riyo swears under her breath as she hurries down the path her mother and Fox had vanished down. She’d been too engrossed in laughing with Raicho at their Aunt Karri’s furious yells to notice they’d gone.

Her heart had nearly stopped when Wini had told her they’d gone down the path leading to the Steps. 

Skirts gathered in her hands, she half runs, worried what her well meaning mother might be saying.

Much as she’d warned her parents about the delicacy of her and Fox’s relationship, just like Raicho, she doubts either one really understands her dedication to letting Fox take the initiative. 

The path forks and Riyo takes the left, twisting down it for several minutes before realizing it circles back. With a huff of frustration the rushes back, getting tangled in a winterberry bush for a moment before quickly cutting up the right path, nearly running headfirst into her mother.

“Oh, Riyo!” Her mother clutches her chest, closes her eyes. “You gave me a fright child.”

Riyo looks her over, heart speeding up. Fox isn’t with her. 

“Mum-”

“You’ve got to be more careful. Barreling around corners like that, it’s dangerous.”

“Mum.” Riyo grits her teeth. “Where’s Fox?”

Her mother’s annoyed expression softens and her hand drops from her chest. 

“I left him at the steps. He was reading the inscription along the base.”

Riyo arches an eyebrow. “He’s reading old Pantoran?”

Shrugging, her mother raises her hands. 

“Well, he was looking at it, at any rate.” 

Nodding, Riyo frowns. “Where are you going?”

Her mother shifts on her feet, smiles faintly. 

“The ladies room.” She huffs. “And in a hurry too. Once you’ve birthed a few babies you’ll understand my plight.”

Not waiting for further discussion, she brushes past Riyo, grumbling about bladder weakness and too much wine.

Riyo watches her totter away, uncertain if her ailment is a convenient excuse or a real issue.

Deciding it doesn’t matter, she sighs and continues down the path.

As the bottom of the Steps comes into view, Riyo stumbles, nearly stepping through the hem of her dress. 

“Careful,” Fox’s voice rumbles through her, his rough hands steadying her.

She straightens up as he crouches down, untangles her foot from the golden fringe of her dress.

“There,” he tells her, after a moment’s work. “This is not a very practical dress.”

Nodding, Riyo smiles as he stands. “Party gowns seldom are.”

He reaches out, straightens her headdress. “Why the hurry?”

For a moment she’s quiet, uncertain what to say, before grimacing. She doesn’t really have an answer. 

Reaching out, she smoothes the front of his jacket, worries her lip between her teeth as she looks up at him. 

“I think I was worried my mother was harassing you.”

Fox doesn’t chuckle, just studies her for a moment, his brows knitted together in concern before sighing. 

“You didn’t tell me the Republic does not keep marriage records.” 

There’s something in his voice she can’t quite place. Maybe accusation, maybe hurt. 

He takes a breath, lets it out over an eternity, fixing her in a cautious look. Riyo’s heart cracks. She never meant to make him wary, never wanted to be a person he’s guarded with. 

“Why not?”

Riyo’s eyes dropping down, fingers fussing with golden piping at her waist as her insides roll. She stares at the toes of his boots, scuffed with the faint footprints of small shoes. 

She should have told him, but she’d held back, waiting for him to even brush the subject. It had seemed like a wise move. It gave him the choice, the ability to direct the conversation.

A knot forms in her chest, swells into her throat as her eyes begin stinging. 

All her reasons, excuses and weak determinations, feel like wet flimsi now though, useless and falling to pieces. She’d not given his strength credit, an unforgivable oversight on her part. 

“I didn’t-I didn’t want to make you feel pressured.” She bites her lip as tears begin welling in her eyes. “I thought-I was worried if I told you it would seem like I was pushing the matter.”

Her breath shudders as she feels a tear slip out. She grimaces and brushes it away, only to feel another slide out. 

Making an argument to a Senate committee or a passionate appeal in the Assembly she can handle, explaining her own foolish misjudgment when the justification feels so painfully insubstantial is another matter it seems. There’s no degree of separation with this as with those, it’s personal, and it’s a failure on her part. 

“I wasn’t-it wasn’t meant to withhold information, I just didn’t want to…”

She struggles for a decent explanation as a tear drips off her jaw and splatters down her front.

Fox’s warm, calloused fingers reach out, gently tip her chin up. 

His expression isn’t angry, not even disappointed, but edges closer so sad. 

“You didn’t want to spook me again,” he finally offers, voice soft and self-recriminating. 

Riyo closes her eyes, nods. It’s not quite how she’d phrase it, but it’s correct just the same. 

Sighing, Fox shifts, his other hand coming up to her face, cradling it between them as he sweeps his thumbs under her eyes, brushing fresh tears away.

“I’m sorry I scared you.”

Riyo shakes her head. “You didn’t-”

“I did,” he says, tone bordering on stern. His hands drop from her face and he runs one through his hair. “I’m as bad as Era. At least he had the gett’se to fight, though.”

“Era wasn’t raised to think his life was disposable,” she reminds him, taking his hand and squeezing it, hoping her touch bleeds comfort and love into him. “Your concerns are real, Fox. There was more for you to overcome.”

There still is, it seems. 

A soft chuckle rumbles in his chest. 

“I feel you may be giving me more credit than I deserve.”

“I’m giving you due credit,” she corrects him. 

He’d worked hard for them. With a little encouragement from her, to be sure, but still, the burden of the insecurity lingering around him was his alone to fight. Only he really had the ability to wage that battle. 

His lips twitch up.

“I’m humbled by your faith, Senator.”

Riyo snorts, rubs away a wayward tear with her sleeve.

“As you should be,” she tells him, smile still a little watery as she looks up at him, reaches up and presses her palm to his cheek. 

How Raicho could ever consider him bland escapes her. The warm brown of his skin and the rich black of his hair is different, very alien, but enticing all the same. There’s nothing dull about him. 

Pushing up on her toes, she leans in, presses a kiss to his lips before falling back on her heels. She takes his hand. 

“Let’s get back to the party.” Before they’re missed and questions are raised. Probably by Wini.

She stops abruptly when Fox doesn’t budge, stays solidly planted at the foot of the Steps. 

“Fox?” She smiles for a second, ready to tease him that she’ll keep him from being dragged out to dance again. Then her breath catches at the fragile expression etched into his features. “Fox?”

He stares at her for a moment, mouth a bit agape, seemingly mentally wrestling with something before swallowing. His gaze drops to their hands, his thumb rubbing over her knuckles, before he looks up.

“Riyo…” 

Licking his lips, he looks over his shoulder, at the Steps, then back at her. 

“Your mother said...she told me they consider me your husband already.”

Nodding, she takes a step closer to him. 

“It’s a common sentiment,” she explains. “One extended to…‘companions’ of children that are well liked.”

He rolls his eyes at her use of his own term. 

Despite her levity, she’s being genuine. It’s an old custom, often used to foster arranged marriages, but it’s evolving. 

“Did Era get the same treatment?”

Riyo nods. 

“I won’t put much stock in it then.”

When Riyo laughs his lips quirk up and he steps closer. 

She’s suddenly, horribly aware of how off center her headpiece is, that the hem of her dress has muck on it, her breath is thick with fried food and wine. It all washes away with the look Fox gives her. 

They’re on the precipice of something, and she dearly hopes he pulls them over. Only he can. 

“I want to go up the Steps,” he finally says. 

Riyo waits, breath held. He knows what those Steps mean, but she wants to be sure. 

“It’s your choice,” she whispers, her heart bruising her ribs. 

He shakes his head. 

“Can’t make it alone.” 

Stepping closer, he dips his head, looks up at her through his dark lashes. 

“Will you marry me?”

Riyo doesn’t hesitate, there’s no need to. 

She smiles, sighs her answer.

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: *sigh* I give up.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Star Wars, I only play with the characters.

Fox has never asked a question he’s been more certain the answer of, but still been terrified to ask. 

Riyo hadn’t had so much as a breath of hesitation though. She loves him, he knows that. She’d carry on as they have without complaint if Fox’s fears froze them in place. 

If he needed proof of her love, which he didn’t, her silence about the intricacies and failures of the Republic regarding marriages cemented it. She’d been determined not to burden him with it, not when he was so uncertain. In her mind, speaking about it was to endorse it, and she was determined to let him take the lead in this matter.

He doesn’t deserve her consideration, not when he’d clearly wounded her so badly, but he’s grateful for it nonetheless. 

They slowly ascend the Steps, Riyo’s eyes skyward, focused on the moon overhead. 

“It’s a full moon,” she murmurs. 

Fox nods, frowns. 

“What’s that mean?” He clears his throat. “The significance, I mean.”

Each phase of the moon, the color, the date, has something tied to it on Pantora. He hadn’t managed to memorize any of the pitiful charts he’d found on the HoloNet, though he doubts it was terribly accurate. The HoloNet is, he’s found, very humancentric. All data he’s referenced on other species is largely filtered through human eyes. It’s incredibly unhelpful.

She stops, indigo flushing on her cheeks. 

“Fertility.”

Fox feels his face warm. He shouldn’t have asked. 

He waits as she adjusts her headpiece, reaching out to pluck a leaf from her hair once it’s straight. 

“Did you roll in the bushes?”

She snorts. “It was more an attack. My guard abandoned me for an older woman.”

Fox rolls his eyes as he drops the leaf. “You were warned.”

“Hm,” she hums, smiling up at him. “I’d hoped you wouldn’t find a suitable substitute for me so swiftly.”

“I was bred for efficiency.”

She doesn’t laugh, just stares up at him with her wide golden eyes for a moment before taking his hand in hers, pressing a kiss to his knuckles. 

“You’re more than the sum of your parts,” she tells him, so softly it’s nearly overwhelmed by the breeze in the trees. 

He isn’t, but he appreciates her saying so. 

She reaches out, presses a warm hand to his cheek, steadies his gaze on her. Fox leans into her touch, closes his eyes. 

“You don’t believe me,” he hears her tell him, “but you are.”

Opening his eyes, Fox finds her smiling up at him, her eyes bright. 

Turning into her palm, he presses a kiss to the center.

The breeze picks up, sending dry debris, leaves and winter flower petals, off the top and down the steps. 

Taking her hand, Fox walks up the last few steps, stopping at the top. 

Looking around, Fox inhales the scent, a mix of the winter blooming flowers and the decaying flora of the last season. There are bright blues and muted red blossoms, golden leaved bushes, all around the flat plane, growing in circles. He’s sure there’s purpose to the placement, but the meaning is beyond his knowledge.

At the center is a bare spot, soft upturned dirt, with a covered pot setting innocently at the middle.

Riyo guides him there, stopping at the edge of the dirt and worrying her lip in her teeth. She looks up at him uncertainly. 

“You don’t have to do this.” Her thumb rubs over the back of his hand. “Nothing will change.”

She’s not wrong. They’ll be just as hidden, living their life together in the shadows, no matter what choice is made. 

It’s a bitter pill, but one he’s learned to tolerate. Happiness isn’t a guarantee, nor is it always easily won, so he’ll take what he can, when he can. Especially if it comes attached to more for Riyo. 

Little as he may deserve happiness, she does. If it’s within his power to give her even the smallest amount, he’ll do it without complaint. 

He steps into the patch of dirt, looks back at her. 

Smiling, she steps in beside him, turns to face him, takes his hands and makes him face her. He waits, frowning. 

The particulars of Pantoran marriage, as provided by the HoloNet, are vague. Adding to that his reluctance to bring up the subject with the Pantoran he knew, Fox isn’t sure what is expected of him. 

“Er, now what?”

Riyo grins. 

“We’re standing at the center of life,” she explains softly, the breeze sending a few loose strands of her hair into her face. 

The center is bare, she tells him, because those who stand in it are meant to grow there.

“Figuratively,” she adds when Fox makes a face. 

The relationship affirmed there, the child dedicated, the life released, are meant to grow, not just in the soil underfoot, but in the air and the light and the water around them. 

It seems a bit silly to Fox. Sentimental and a little fanciful. Faith, beyond believing in training and regulations, is strictly civilian, and therefore foreign to him. Something he knows the basics of, but has no interest in himself. 

“Most beings in this universe like to have something larger than themselves to believe in,” Sabé told Stone, when he’d asked about some ritual he’d observed during patrol. 

“Mostly so we have something to blame,” Saché added under her breath. 

“Like the Force?” Jek asked. 

Sabé made a face. “Sort of.”

The Force is at the heart of a lot of galactic faiths, but it’s not the sole center. 

Fox wishes he’d given her explanation more attention. Instead, he’d rolled his eyes and ducked away, to his office to do flimsi work and finalize the Chancellor’s security detail for the next day. 

He shuffles his boots in the dirt, eyes the little pot between them. “Do we have to plant something?”

Riyo worries her lower lip as she crouches down, picks up the pot, holds it to her middle protectively. She hesitates, one hand resting on the lid. 

“We must say our vows of dedication to one another,” she explains.

When Fox only frowns in confusion, she smiles. 

“I love you very much, Fox,” she tells him, her voice just above a whisper. “Even when we’re apart, for whatever reason, that doesn’t lessen my love.”

It takes Fox a moment to realize what she’s said, that this is her vow, her affirmation to him, but once he does he nods. 

“I...I don’t have anything. Not credits or status. Not even a name. I don’t even have a long happy life to offer you,” he sucks in a breath, thinks of the celebration still carrying on below, an anniversary he’ll never reach, before letting out a long sigh, “but...what little I have is yours.”

Riyo’s eyes are bright, and when she closes them, a tear slides out and she quickly squats it away. 

“Fox…” 

Before she can whisper reassurances to him, that his love is enough, that he’s enough, Fox dips down and kisses her soundly. He doesn’t want her feeling badly for him, not tonight. Not in this moment. 

His vow was simply a reaffirmation of his truth. He had little to nothing, but if his affection is enough, he’ll freely give it for as long as he’s got. 

Her eyes are closed and her lips parted when he pulls back, breath still in her chest. 

Cracking her eyes open, a small grin forms on her lips. 

“You’re allowed to simply tell me to hush, you know?”

Fox shrugs. “I like my way better.”

She laughs softly. “I do too.”

Reaching out, Fox brushes a wayward strand from her face. He lets his hand drop to his side, glances down at the pot still wrapped in her arms. 

“What next?”

Shifting the pot, then carefully removes the lid, peers inside before holding it out.

“Put your hand in and take a seed out.”

Whichever seed is chosen is the goddess’s gift to them. 

“She knows what we’ll need most and she’ll guide you to the right seed,” she explains. “Serenity, unity, prosperity…”

Fox nods. He could do with some serenity. 

They’ll plant it together, Riyo continues, adding to the garden around them, dedicating their future just as generations of Pantorans before them have. 

“Do you know what the seeds mean?” Fox asks as he carefully maneuvers his hand through the narrow opening, hoping it doesn’t get stuck. That would be his luck. 

Her lips twitch. “Some.”

Wishing he had his bucket, just in case Riyo can’t identify the seed, Fox pulls one from the belly of the pot. He holds it out to her, lets the silver white seed rest in the palm of his hand as she tilts her head and examines it.

“It’s a shuura fruit seed,” she tells him, after a moment, closing his hand around it. She smiles up at him. “It’ll do well nearer the edge.”

She doesn’t explain the significance of the seed, though Fox is certain she knows. He’ll ask for an explanation later, his insides are too twisted up in worry, hoping he’s not dragging her into a mistake, to give it more than passing consideration. 

Leading him to the far edge, opposite the stairs, Riyo kneels down in the soft, golden grass. She pats the spot beside her. 

Crouching beside her, Fox balances on the balls of his feet for a moment before giving up and setting down, resting his arms on his knees.

“This is fertile soil,” she tells him, as she digs her carefully manicured nails into the dirt, making a small well. Taking Fox’s hand again, she smiles as he uncurls his fingers, revealing the seed still inside. 

She gently plucks it up, carefully places it on the hole. 

Fox helps her push the soil back over it, softly patting the dirt into place.

He stares at the upturned dirt for a moment, waits, then frowns. 

“That’s it?” He’d expected something a bit more momentous. 

Riyo snorts. “I’m afraid so.”

“We’re married then?” He shifts. “I don’t feel any different.”

Shouldn’t he feel different? 

Leaning closer, Riyo presses a kiss to his cheek, brushes her lips on his ear. “I suppose my mother was right then. You were already my husband.”

Fox feels his lips twitch. “That explains it then.”

Scooting closer, Riyo settles her head on his shoulder and Fox rests his cheek against her hair. 

They sit in the quiet for a few moments, the only sound provided by the music drifting up from the party and the breeze through the leaves, before Riyo shifts, sighs. 

“I do have something rather unfortunate to tell you,” she finally says, her tone not nearly grave enough to raise any real worry in Fox. 

He arches an eyebrow. 

She grins. “As we’re staying at my grandparents home I’m afraid our wedding night will be a bit…non traditional.”

Fox chuckles, presses a kiss to her forehead. 

His life has been non traditional. He’d been grown in a tube and raised on an assembly line. Getting married, getting a wedding night, is more than he’d ever imagined. He’ll wait without complaint. 

“I promise I’ll make it up to you,” she murmurs against his ear, the warmth of her breath sending a shiver along his spine. 

Fox turns his head, catches her lips, smiles against the kiss. 

It’ll be worth the wait. 

-  
They stay hidden atop the plateau for nearly an hour before Riyo regretfully tells him they need to get back to the party. 

“The excitement from Aunt Karri’s meltdown will have died down by now,” she points out. “We’ll be missed.”

Carefully, they each sneak back in separately, though Raicho catches Fox, giving him a narrow look. 

“Been off necking it?”

When Fox gives her a genuinely confused look in response-he isn’t sure what ‘necking’ is exactly-she laughs. 

Leaning in, she grins up at him. 

“You’ve both got dirt on your hands,” she whispers. “Congratulations.”

Face burning, Fox mutters a ‘thank you’ before attempting to melt into the corners. 

The rest of the celebration is a blur. Fox is mostly occupied entertaining the younglings, dancing with the twins or rescuing Mako from Era, though at times he feels that may be the other way around. 

“You hate me, don’t you? Little bugger,” Era grumbles, after Mako yanks on his hair. 

“He doesn’t much know you.” 

Era brightens. “So you think he’ll start liking me once we spend time together?”

Fox simply stares. “You should settle for being tolerated.”

“Your confidence is overwhelming.”

He watches as Fox bounces Mako on his knee a few times before shaking his head, expression a bit wistful. He squints across the dance floor, to the diamond centerpiece, now prominently displayed, despite whatever incident had occurred around it earlier. 

“I think it may be best we not discuss it,” was all Kai had said about the matter.

“Raicho and I got a radiance blossom too,” he tells Fox, waving his hand toward the distant centerpiece. “That’s a good sign, I think. If those two crazy kids can survive it, maybe we can too.”

Shifting Mako to his other knee, Fox squints over at the shimmery centerpiece. 

There’d been a few of the showy blossoms on the plateau, hanging off vines and twisted up into the branches of the trees. Some of the pollen had rubbed off into Riyo’s hair and they’d had to stop and carefully brush it out. The scent of it is still clinging to the tips of Fox’s fingers. 

“What’s it mean?” He asks after a moment’s consideration. “The radiance blossom, I mean.”

Era chuckles. “Passion, I’m told. Unfortunately, passion can easily turn to stubbornness. A fact Raicho and I are confronting headlong.”

“We’d have done better to get a sileri bush,” Raicho says, plopping into the seat between them. “We could do with a bit of serenity. It’s what mum and dad got.”

She glared at her parents, dancing happily, laughing across the room. Kai spins Miki out and back into his arms. 

“Goddess, they’re nauseating, aren’t they?”

Era chuckles. “I think the Goddess knew well enough you’d get bored with serenity.”

Resting her arms on the table, Raicho makes a face. “Probably right.”

She waits a beat, then leans in, snorts in Mako’s ear, causing him to squeal. 

Laughing, she sits back and watches as Mako squirms in Fox’s lap, copying her snorting noise. 

“Well, we’re lucky we didn’t get a shuura seed,” she finally says, resting her cheek on her palm, elbow propped on the table. She pinches Mako’s foot. “You were destined to be an only child from the beginning.”

Fox’s insides roll as he carefully considers his words. 

“Shuura seed?” He finally asks, hoping his tone doesn’t give him away. 

Raicho grins. “Fertility.”

“Family,” Era corrects her, shaking his head. “It means family.”

“And how does one get a family?” Raicho gestures to Mako. “By having lots of babies.”

She sits back, crosses her arms and lifts her chin. 

“You know I’m right.”

Era simply sighs. 

A few minutes pass, Raicho watching the dancing, smiling softly as her parents continue spinning and laughing. She sways a bit, and Fox is on the cusp of passing Mako off and offering to dance with her, when Era’s chair grinds on the floor. He stands, looks a bit uncertain, then holds out a hand. 

“Do you want-will you dance with me?”

Raicho frowns, eyes narrowing on him. “You hate dancing.”

He shrugs. “But you don’t.”

Raicho arches an eyebrow.

“You’re just trying to get me to talk more, aren’t you?”

“Not at all,” he tells her, then leans in, whispers something in her ear. 

Raicho snorts, grabs his hand. “Not on the dance floor you won’t.”

She half swings Era around as they twirl and disappear into the other dancing couples, knocking into an older cousin as they go. 

Fox watches them vanish, wondering what it must be like to have such an open relationship, not secreted away and unmentionable. 

He sighs, rests his chin on Mako’s head. 

That’s not in his stars though, and he’s made his peace with that. Even if the pain of the unfairness of it does creep up on him occasionally. 

“They’re getting along better,” Riyo says as she takes up the seat Raicho vacated, sets a plate piled high with sugary treats in front of Fox. 

Nodding, Fox pushes his jealousy away. He’s got more than he’d ever expected. He won’t wallow in self-pity. 

He eyes the plate of treats as Mako reaches for it. 

Riyo smiles, gives the edge a nudge closer to him. 

“It’s customary to eat something sickeningly sweet on your wedding day,” she tells him, picking a sugar coated fruit from the pile. “It supposedly sets the tone for a sweet life together.”

She holds the fruit out to him.

Before Fox can take it, Mako snatches it away and begins gnawing on the sugar coating, drool dripping down his front and onto Fox’s hand. 

Wiping the back of his hand on his pants, Fox takes a fresh berry from the plate and pops it whole in his mouth, causing some of the juice to squirt out. Riyo smiles and reaches out, wipes the bit of juice from the corner of his mouth before he can do so himself. 

“Thanks,” he murmurs before licking his lips clean of the sugar coating. 

He chews slowly as Riyo plucks her own treat from the pile, bites it in half. 

They watch silently as the dancing continues, until Mako hits the plate and sends fruit onto the table. 

“Uh-oh,” he tells Fox, little hands raised in the air. 

Fox chuckles. 

“Just a little mess,” Riyo assured him, giving his knee a little squeeze. 

Carefully, they gather up the fruit, berries and slices, and stack it on the plate. Fox frowns and examines an unfamiliar one, the one Riyo had offered him first, pulpy with a soft purple flesh. There’s quite a lot of it, sliced and whole, chocolate coated and sugared. 

“Shuura fruit,” Riyo tells him, taking it from his palm and biting into it, licking the juice from her lips before popping the rest in her mouth. 

Fox feels his face warm. “Raicho says it stands for fertility.”

Riyo snorts, holds a slice out for Mako. 

“It has many meanings.” She smiles softly. “Family is the most widely accepted, though fertility is one way of interpreting that.”

Her eyes drop to her hands, toying with the stem of one of the berries. 

“It’s hardly a condemnation, just a blessing. I’ve known plenty of friends from school who’ve gotten Shuura seeds, and they’re not repopulating Pantora.”

Nodding, Fox wipes the drool from Mako’s chin, considers something for a moment. 

“It’s...it wouldn’t be the worst thing,” he finally says, keeping his eyes focused on Mako, gnawing on one of the Shuura slices, chocolate smearing on his face. He chances a glance up, notes her expression, a kind of cautious hopefulness, before busying himself with dipping a napkin in water and rubbing the chocolate off Mako’s cheeks. “Fertility, I mean.”

The universe seems set on nudging him in the direction of youngling. Maybe he shouldn’t argue with powers clearly greater than himself. Especially not when it’s pushing him towards something he’d dearly love. 

Riyo glances over, her lips curving up as she catches his eyes before looking away, cheeks flushing indigo.

“No,” Fox hears her say, voice just above a whisper. “It wouldn’t be.”

-

Fox ends up helping haul several very drunk relatives to the common area at Riyo’s grandparents, in the small hours of the morning, once the dancing gives way to drinking and reminiscing among the elders. 

After depositing a snoring uncle on the scarlet rug covering the floor, Fox nearly settles himself on a squishy chair with a faded footstool to catch a few hours sleep when he’s interrupted.

“And what kind of bodyguard sleeps so far from his charge?” Riyo whispers in his ear.

The kind that avoids a scandal, Fox points out. 

Raicho startles him, popping around the side of the chair back. She rolls her eyes in response. 

“Just bug out or make sure you’re not starkers before anyone comes knocking and you’ll be fine.” She looks around. “Besides, they’ll all be hung over. Hardly discerning witnesses.”

Despite his hesitation, Fox doesn’t protest when Riyo takes his hand and leads him up the narrow stairs to the tiny room she’s staying in. 

Raicho bids them goodnight, whispering something to Riyo that causes her to blush a furious shade of indigo and shoot a glare as Raicho retreats into her room with a cackle. She kicks the door shut just as Fox spots Era’s foot peeking out from under a blanket on the floor. Her forgiveness doesn’t seem to extend to letting him back in the bed yet.

Before the door closes, Fox seeks Mako standing in his crib, grinning at his mother and reaching for her. 

His chest aches as he follows a Riyo in their room. 

Slipping out of his dress clothes and into his nightwear, Fox settles into the bed and under a mountain of quilts. He nearly sighs in relief when Riyo crawls in, her warmth bleeding through to his bones as he pulls her closer, nuzzles his nose in her hair. 

Her cheek to his chest, he hears her breathing slow.

He nearly closes his eyes and goes to sleep himself, but can’t, not with a thought gnawing at his mind. 

“Riyo?”

She hums, in the twilight of sleep, just enough awareness to acknowledge him.

He waits, strokes her hair and digs for a little courage. 

“I...I think I’d like a baby.”

Her breathing changes, from the slow cusp of sleep to waking, and he feels her shift.

Glancing down, he finds her peering up at him, her hair mussed in her eyes, lips twitching. 

“Any baby, or have you got one in mind?”

Fox huffs, brushes the hair from her face. 

“With you, I would like a baby with you.” He tucks the hair behind her ear. “Not-not right now, but...eventually.”

A someday that may never come, but he hopes it does. 

She bites her lip. “Fox...are you su-”

“Yes,” he cuts her off. He’s never been more certain of anything. He frowns. “But only if you still-if you want it as well.”

Slowly, a small grin forms on her lips. 

“How many?”

Brow pulling together, Fox’s frown deepens. “How many?”

Riyo pinches his side. “How many children?”

Staring, Fox considers what she’s said. He’s never thought about it, never believed there would be a reason to. Any children he’d imagined had been formless and quickly pushed out of his mind. It hurt too much to entertain such an impossible fantasy.

He sucks in a breath, thinks for a moment. 

“Two,” he finally answers. 

It seems appropriate, and most siblings he’s met come in pairs. Riyo and Raicho, Sabé and Saché, Senator Amidala and her sister...perhaps two is just when the children are girls. Fox isn’t sure. Though considering how natborns get into the universe, Fox thinks two is a reasonable number. 

If he were the one going through pregnancy and labor he’d certainly not want to do it more than twice. 

Riyo traces her finger along his cheek, smiles softly. 

“I’d have thought you’d be partial to four or five.” 

Fox smiles. Like a batch. 

“You are not a growth jar,” he points out. “Four or five feels a bit...excessive.”

Two is more than he’d ever consider imagining, even in his wildest fantasies of a mundane life with a family. Hoping for more feels almost ungrateful.

Besides, he’ll likely never even get those two. 

Pushing the thought away, he presses a kiss to her forehead. “Two would be perfect.”

Nuzzling into his cheek, then kissing it, Riyo smiles. 

“It will be.”

She snuggles against him, her breath warm through his shirt as she sighs. 

“Sweet dreams, my love.”

Fox chuckles, gently stroking her hair, still a bit tangled from the headpiece. He closes his eyes, smiles. She’s his wife, no dream, however sweet, could compare with that reality. 

Holding her tighter, Fox kisses her hair, relaxes into the mattress. 

“Sweet dreams, Riyo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s finally over! Hopefully the ending wasn’t a disappointment. Here’s hoping my next story stays a one shot.


End file.
